Aston Martin avoiding ‘legal’ wrangle ahead of Adrian Newey’s official Red Bull exit

Mike Krack will not engage in conversation with Adrian Newey about Aston Martin’s F1 car in order to avoid any hint of impropriety that could land them in legal trouble with Red Bull.

Newey and Red Bull announced back in May that the design guru, whose cars carried Red Bull to seven Drivers’ Championship titles and six Constructors’, would leave the team in early 2025.

Mike Krack won’t be speaking out of turn with Adrian Newey

After months of speculation, Aston Martin announced they’d won the race to sign the 65-year-old who will join the British manufacturer on a long-term deal as Managing Technical Partner.

He will take up the position on 1st March 2025.

But aside from the conversations that took place to persuade Newey that Aston Martin was the right choice, Krack won’t be speaking with him until his official start date as that could land both the F1 team and the designer in legal trouble with Red Bull.

Although Newey has stepped away from Red Bull’s F1 operations, he remains under contract with the team until the end of February 2025.

“I don’t know,” Krack said when asked if he’d be consulting with Newey before his official start date. “I need to check with our legal department.

“I think you need to be very careful with these things. You know, we do not want to get into legal [matters] going forward. That would just not feel right.”

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Aston Martin announced Newey’s signing in early September, doing so in a huge presentation, the sort usually reserved for a big-name driver signing, that was held at the team’s state-of-the-art Silverstone headquarters.

The team acknowledged on the day that his influence will mostly be felt on their 2026 challenger, that marking the first year under F1’s latest overhaul with smaller, lighter cars on the grid.

But until then, there’s still work to be done as Aston Martin look to return to podium-celebrating form having so far missed out this season.

“If you can attract Adrian Newey, it proves that your project is credible,” he said. “I think that should be a motivation for all of us.

“But we should also use ‘25 as an opportunity to show Adrian what we can do. I think that should serve as a motivation for all of us.”

Asked if he was concerned that some people may sit back and wait for Newey to work his magic when he arrives, Krack replied: “If I identify that one, it will not be for long.”

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