Aston Martin issue Adrian Newey statement minutes after Audi release | F1 | Sport
Lawrence Stroll has insisted Adrian Newey is his “partner” in leadership at Aston Martin, amid speculation over his future. Though the Canadian billionaire owner of the Formula 1 team failed to dismissed intense speculation that Jonathan Wheatley, whose exit from Audi has now been confirmed, will take over the reins as team principal in the future.
Newey’s official title at Aston is managing technical partner though, since late last year, he has assumed extra responsibility as acting team principal after Andy Cowell was moved into a newly-created chief strategy officer role. It has long been believed, however, that those responsibilities assumed by Newey would only be temporary.
His main focus will always be on car development and design, and he could do without any other duties which take his time and energy away from that primary objective. With that in mind, it has been widely reported that Aston Martin are looking for a more permanent appointment as team principal.
Some erroneous reports have claimed that Newey’s position could be under threat amid a difficult start to the new season for the team, though the owner has now moved to correct those. A statement put out by the team and attibuted to Stroll read: “With the current speculation surrounding Adrian Newey’s role in our team, I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
“As executive chairman and controlling shareholder, I would like to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and an important shareholder. He is AMR’s managing technical partner, and he and I have a true partnership built on a shared vision of success for the company.”
Stroll also claimed that unnamed “senior executives from other teams” have made approaches to Aston Martin in the hope of joining the project. He did not rule out the prospect of Wheatley joining as team principal in the future, though he also suggested that the team will not necessarily appoint someone in a team principal position for the sake of it.
He added: “We do things differently here, and while we don’t currently adopt the traditional team principal role that you see elsewhere – it is by design. As the most successful engineer in the history of the sport, Adrian’s primary focus is on the strategic and technical leadership where he excels.
“He is supported by a highly skilled senior leadership team to deliver on all aspects of the business, both at the campus and trackside. We are regularly approached by senior executives of other teams who wish to join Aston Martin Aramco, but in keeping with our policy, we do not comment on rumour and speculation.”
