Amanda Newey sets record straight on Lewis Hamilton ‘disrespect’ accusation

The wife of Adrian Newey, Amanda Newey, has hit back at a fan comment claiming he had “disrespected” Lewis Hamilton.

Ahead of Adrian Newey’s full Red Bull exit, the F1 design guru has agreed a long-term deal with Aston Martin, one which will see him become a shareholder in the team and fill the newly-created Managing Technical Partner role. He will begin work with the team in March 2025.

Amanda Newey shuts down Adrian Newey Lewis Hamilton ‘disrespect’ claim

And amid the flurry of media attention, Newey appeared on the High Performance podcast , where one of the topics to come up was the controversial Abu Dhabi 2021 title decider, where Hamilton lost out on what would have been a record-breaking eighth World Championship to Max Verstappen.

While Newey insisted that the fall-out did not get to him or Verstappen, he expressed his personal opinion that Mercedes “psychologically couldn’t let it go”.

He continued: “And you have to… We all have a bad race, perhaps should have won and the bloody thing broke down on the last lap or whatever. And I always have a personal issue like that, actually, I will be horrible to be around in the airport and that Sunday evening, but come Monday morning, I’ve got to wake up and be back on it.

“I can’t go back into the factory all miserable and downbeat. Part of my position, I suppose, is to help, to try to hopefully motivate everybody, not just saying: ‘Oh, it’s so unfair and we were robbed’ and all that. It doesn’t help does it?”

This led a fan on X (formerly known as Twitter) to claim that Newey had “disrespected” Hamilton “with his comments”. Adrian’s wife Amanda would reply to deny this and state Adrian’s respect for Hamilton, one of two drivers – alongside Fernando Alonso – who he previously expressed a desire to work with in Formula 1.

“No, he didn’t. He has a great deal of respect for Lewis,” Amanda replied.

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Newey will get the chance to work with Alonso at Aston Martin from next year, having chosen to head to the ambitious Silverstone squad, over options like joining Hamilton at Ferrari.

However, Newey’s decision is not one which has left Hamilton feeling downbeat.

Asked ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix whether any part of him is disappointed that Newey will not join him at Ferrari, Hamilton replied: “Honestly, no.

“I feel like whilst I mentioned before that it would be an honour to work with Adrian, I’ve been privileged to work with two championship-winning teams that didn’t have Adrian [McLaren and Mercedes], for example.

“And I think probably any team would have been happy to have had him, but at the end of the day, he had to do what’s best for him.

“It doesn’t change anything for me or my goal or my focus with the next move. So I still believe 100 per cent that there’s lots that we can do.”

Hamilton will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari from F1 2025.

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