“It would be a privilege to work with him”: Lewis Hamilton would ‘very much’ like Adrian Newey to join Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton fancies working with Red Bull Chief Designer Adrian Newey at Ferrari in 2025. Speaking in the press conference ahead of the 2024 Miami GP, the Mercedes champion admitted that the British aerodynamic wizard was one of the few talents on his wish list of people he preferred to work within F1.

With Newey’s shock departure from Red Bull announced ahead of the Miami race weekend, the news has created its share of speculation. With the 65-year-old becoming a free agent for the 2025 season and beyond, Hamilton was quizzed about the chances of working with him at Ferrari. He wished to work with the legendary designer and stated his preferences clearly. However, the 39-year-old remained coy about being cross-questioned on whether his team was hiring the Red Bull chief designer for future seasons.

Asked how much he fancied Newey joining Ferrari for 2025 and beyond, Hamilton said:

“Very much.”

Asked about the value of the Red Bull veteran designer, he added:

“Well, I mean, Adrian's known for… He's got such a great history, track record. And, you know, he's obviously just done an amazing job through his career in engaging with teams and the knowledge that he has. And I think he would be an amazing addition. I think they've already got a great team. They're already making huge progress, strides forwards, their cars quicker this year. But yeah, it would be a privilege to work with him.”

Asked if a potential Newey hiring was a part of the deal with Ferrari, Hamilton added:

“I mean, this is all private conversation stuff. So if I was to do a list of people that I'd love to work with, he would absolutely be at the top of that. I mean, I don't know. We'll see.”

On whether Newey was mentioned in the negotiations with Ferrari, the seven-time world champion said:

“I can't tell you. I can't tell you what was in the discussions.”

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Lewis Hamilton believes Adrian Newey is valuable but won't underestimate Red Bull after his departure

Lewis Hamilton believes Adrian Newey brings a lot of experience to a team and any team would be fortunate to hire him. However, he felt it's not just one individual that builds a car but an entire team. Therefore, the British champion felt that Red Bull would continue to build good cars despite their Chief Designer’s departure. He reflected upon the McLaren days when his car was an evolution of one of the British engineer’s designs.

Commenting on Newey becoming a free agent for 2025 and beyond, Hamilton said:

“Well, just from my perspective, when I joined McLaren, I think it was an evolution of his car. I think I got there just after he left. So that car had evolved from a concept that he had worked on. So I felt privileged that I'd had the chance to touch something that he had worked on. Racing against a team that he's been so heavily a part of through the years has been a massive challenge, but I think we just always need to remember that there's a lot of people in the background and there is not one key person that.”

Hamilton added:

“It's not one person, it's a whole team of people who do the job. So you can imagine for all the amazing experience that he brings to the team, the people that he works with will continue to do an amazing job. And I don't anticipate Red Bull not continuing to build great cars moving forward. But any team would be fortunate to have the opportunity to work with him.”

Newey is currently expected to leave Red Bull after the first quarter of 2025 and will be focused primarily on their Hyper car project, RB17 for the remainder of 2024. With Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari in 2025, speculation suggests that the British engineer could have been snapped up by the Maranello team already. While it remains unclear whether the legend of F1 car design is retiring or moving to another team, a lot of Red Bull’s rivals are keen on signing the celebrated engineer.

Red Bull’s current design team has been lead by Pierre Wache, who they claim has been the primary personnel leading the technical department. They have also downplayed Newey’s active involvement with the RB20 and design department in recent times. However, a Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari and Newey collaboration is on the wish list of many fans and could shakeup the pecking order of the sport in the future, if it were to turn into a reality.