Lewis Hamilton speaks about Adrian Newey picking Aston Martin F1 over Ferrari - “It doesn’t change anything for me”

Lewis Hamilton recently spoke about Adrian Newey's decision to join Aston Martin in 2025 and stated that it will not change his perspective on racing with Ferrari next season onwards. He still feels there is a lot that he can achieve with the Italian crew.

Red Bull announced Newey's exit from the team earlier this season. The 65-year-old was linked with multiple teams on the grid, with Ferrari a strong contender. This was partly because he was associated with the team a decade back, and Hamilton was also making his move to the team in 2025. After much speculation, Newey finalized his move to Aston Martin for the next season.

Despite his decision to not join Ferrari, Hamilton is optimistic about joining the team. When asked if he was disappointed about Newey's decision, Hamilton told Crash:

"Honestly, no. I feel like, while I’ve mentioned before that it would be an honor to work with Adrian, I have been privileged to work with two championship-winning teams that didn’t have Adrian."

Lewis Hamilton explained that Adrian Newey's decision to join Aston Martin did not change his goals with Ferrari.

"I think any team probably would have been happy to have had him. But at the end of the day he had to do what was best for him. It doesn’t change anything for me. It doesn’t change my goal, or my focus with the next move. So I still believe 100% that there’s lots we can do there."

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"Being a driver for Ferrari is super-prestigious" - Mercedes team principal speaks about Lewis Hamilton's decision to move to the Scuderia

Having won six World Championships with Mercedes since 2013, Lewis Hamilton has been the face of the team for a long time. His decision to move to Ferrari came as a surprise before the start of this season. Mercedes announced that he used a clause in his agreement that allowed him to part ways despite a two-year deal.

Recently, BBC Sport questioned Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff about their star driver's decision and if he had any regrets regarding it. Wolff replied:

"No. We decided as a team for that and we were always very transparent with Lewis, and the good thing with him is he is able to put himself in your position and understood where we were coming from."

He added that there are no feelings of betrayal regarding the matter, further claiming that Hamilton might have wanted a "change" and hence made the decision.

"So, in that respect there are no bad feelings, there is no betrayal. It was also for the good of him to change. This was the longest run between a driver and a team. It was 12 years overall. And maybe he needed to, in a way, change and reinvent himself."

"Being a driver for Ferrari is super-prestigious. Maybe for us as a team also it is important to emancipate ourselves and go in a different direction," he added.

Lewis Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. The latter was signed by Williams Racing earlier, where he will partner Alex Albon.