Explained: Adrian Newey’s job title and how Aston Martin’s technical structure will look

How is Adrian Newey going to slot into the existing technical structure at Aston Martin, as he links back up with Dan Fallows?

Newey’s signing on at Aston Martin reunites him with former Red Bull colleague Dan Fallows, who worked closely with Newey between 2006 and 2021 before Fallows left to take up the technical directorship of Aston Martin.

Lawrence Stroll on where Adrian Newey slots in

Fallows and Newey collaborated on many world-championship-winning cars over their time together at Red Bull, with Fallows, as an aerodynamics team leader, reporting to Newey as technical director.

Newey moving onto a new role as chief technical officer at Red Bull promoted Pierre Waché to become technical director at Red Bull, with Fallows becoming head of aerodynamics before signing with Aston Martin in the middle of 2021.

With Fallows having established himself as the technical leader at Aston Martin in the years since, Newey’s arrival could be seen as usurping the seniority of Fallows – but Lawrence Stroll has explained how his new signing will fit in as he embeds himself into the factory at Silverstone.

“We have a strong team, some of which Adrian has already worked with,” Stroll explained when asked about the technical structure of Aston Martin going forward.

“Adrian is going to be the Technical Managing Partner of that team, so on a day-to-day basis, he’ll be here – full commitment, full-time committed to Formula 1, giving leadership and direction to his team.”

For all intents and purposes, Newey’s role appears to be that of a chief technical officer, albeit with a different job title, giving him seniority over all existing technical staff, with Stroll repeating his point as he was asked to clarify the structure again.

“Adrian is joining as a technical managing partner,” Stroll said.

“He will be the leader of the technical team. He’ll be a leader also in the company, in the overall business as a partner and shareholder. So I leave that structure up to Adrian, who’s much better suited than myself.”

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Adrian Newey going ‘fully in’ on F1 efforts with Aston Martin

Newey didn’t address the topic of the technical hierarchy but did speak of his glee at seeing the brand-new facilities built by Stroll at Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory – the brand-new wind tunnel will be the first completely new facility of its type built since McLaren’s in 2004.

“I think what Lawrence and Martin (Whitmarsh, Aston Martin Group CEO) have built here – these facilities are just stunning – it’s not an easy thing to do to build a brand new factory in a greenfield site and have a really nice, warm, creative feel to it,” he said.

“Because, after all, that’s what we’re here for, to try to be creative and to come up with good solutions, and with particularly good communication between everybody that works here.

“I’ve seen some new buildings that haven’t quite fulfilled that, but this one has a great feel. The proportions are right, it has all the facilities. So yes, I’m so looking forward to starting to get to know them, and going from there.”

Returning to a full-time effort with Aston Martin after taking a step back from the day-to-day with Red Bull, Newey confirmed he hasn’t yet picked out where he wants to place his office in the factory but he has an idea of the rough location.

“No, I haven’t. Obviously, I want to be in the centre of everything!” he laughed, before addressing the change for him of returning to a full-time focus on F1.

“But yes, moving teams is always a big commitment, to try to understand how everybody works, to engage with them, to be involved in shaping things, if necessary.

“It takes time, it takes commitment. So yes, of course, to start with once I start, then I’ll be fully in. I need to be, I have to be.

“The good news, though, is that I’ve really been in motor racing, working at the track, actually, since 1982 with Formula Two, then in IndyCar in America, and then Formula 1 since 1988 pretty much nonstop, without a break.

“So far, the summer’s been a little bit busier than Mandy (Newey’s wife) and I had anticipated. But, from Thursday, we’re going to go off and take a bit of holiday time and take a bit of a break.

“I’ve obviously got my RB17 commitments also to balance there, but really get a bit of a break and enjoy ourselves so that, when the second of March comes, I’m fully rested and raring to go.”

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