Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Thursday dismissed suggestions he was disappointed or snubbed by genius designer Adrian Newey’s decision to join Aston Martin next year rather than leave Red Bull for Ferrari, where the Briton is set to join.
The seven-time Formula One world champion, who is set to move to the Italian paddock next year, insisted he felt “privileged” to be working with two teams he won titles with without Newey, McLaren and Mercedes, adding that it would have been an “honour” to work with him in Italy next season.
“Probably any team would have been happy to have him,” Hamilton said of his 65-year-old compatriot, who confirmed on Tuesday he will move to Aston Martin in 2025.
“At the end of the day, he had to do what was best for him,” the 39-year-old continued. “That doesn’t change anything for me. That doesn’t change my goal, or my focus with the next step. So, I still believe 100 percent that there’s a lot more we can do.”
Newey, whose cars he has designed have won more than 200 grands prix and 25 championships, revealed earlier this year that he was leaving Red Bull and had been in discussions with several teams, including Ferrari, before deciding to go to Silverstone-based Aston Martin.
Hamilton, who has won six titles with his current team Mercedes and his first with McLaren in 2008, said Newey was the person he would have liked to work with more than anyone else in Formula One.
Speaking in Baku ahead of this week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the record 105-race winner was asked if he was disappointed to see Ferrari fail to sign Newey, and replied: “Honestly, no. I feel that while I’ve said before that it would be an honour to work with Adrian, I’ve had the good fortune to work with two championship-winning teams that didn’t have Adrian.”
Future Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc of Monaco said he was not disappointed either: “It’s not like we didn’t try or talk to Adrian.”
“I know there were talks and he made his decision. I respect his decision. In the end, as Ferrari, we always thought about the group more than the individual. Of course, Adrian has an incredible record and has done incredible things, but we have an incredible group and I have no doubt that we have a strong group to get back to the top.”
