Audi, who will take over the existing Sauber team in 2026, has been forced to consider alternatives to partner Nico Hulkenberg for the F1 2025 season after missing out on top target Carlos Sainz to Williams. Alex Palou the Indy car champion has been linked to join the Audi team for 2025 A wildcard option for Audi's F1 2025 driver lineup? please log in to view this image A studio image of Audi's F1 showcar
Audi in a strange position now driver-wise. If the rumours are right and they aren’t expected to be near the front for the first couple of years, then an experienced lineup for development feedback would be key. Depending on the Newey/Honda/Verstappen stories at Aston (one likely, two the unknown in the new PU era, three the wild card rumour), Alonso wouldn’t be the worst shout. He and Hulk two cracking drivers who haven’t had a winning car for over a decade, still super fast and obviously Alonso would bring some brand exposure for them in F1 that very few others could. My only other thought was whether Seb Vettel felt he wanted another crack after his retirement break freshens him up.
Yes, I like the Fernando Alonso idea very much. But then again,if Adrian Newey does go to Aston Martin and he designs a championship winning car,that would be another episode of Alonso being in the right place at the wrong time. As for Seb,he should just retire,it must be so hard to come back and he was an embarrassment towards the end at some Grands Prix in that Aston.
I'm not really sure why Audi seems set on dropping Bottas. He's still quite a lot faster than Zhou, and all the better options have rejected them. As for Newey, I think it would be a shame to see him go to a team that exists only to be a rich kids play thing.
I think Newey only wants to be part time going forward. He has a new toy, his Oyster. He needs his team who know him, how he works etc. Ferrari may have been the passion but not the lifestyle. I also think he is no longer the god people like to think. Today's generation has matured, there will be other Newey's. He knows it.
Newey to Red Bull statement imminent .( From Autosport ) Adrian Newey’s move to the Aston Martin Formula 1 team looks set to be announced in the build-up to next week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Following months of speculation about the future of the legendary F1 designer, who announced earlier this year that he would be leaving Red Bull, final confirmation of his plans is likely to come before the next race. While Newey was initially linked most strongly with the Ferrari team in the wake of his Red Bull exit, it quickly became clear that Aston Martin had overtaken it as a leading bidder to secure his services. As well as team owner Lawrence Stroll doing some personal bidding to convince Newey to come onboard, a secret visit to Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory in June is understood to have played a major part in his decision to believe that the squad can give him what he needs. Stroll has invested hugely in creating a state-of-the-art facility for the squad, and critically a new wind tunnel is due to be up and running soon, which will help in the team's long-term ambitions. While Aston Martin has not commented on the situation, an announcement about Newey’s future had long been anticipated for this month – because of a clause in his Red Bull exit terms regarding when his future could be revealed. As previously reported by Autosport, sources indicated that a September date had been agreed for when he would be allowed to go public with what he was doing – which then would leave a six-month window before he could officially start work. The likely imminent confirmation of Newey’s arrival comes amid a major recruitment drive by Aston Martin to secure the top engineering talent the squad thinks is needed to take on the best in F1. Before the summer break, the outfit announced that former Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell would be joining it as Group CEO in October, replacing Martin Whitmarsh. Furthermore, Aston has signed former Ferrari chassis technical director Enrico Cardile to help boost its design strengths. With the team already having a technical director in place in Dan Fallows, who used to work with Newey at Red Bull, there have been questions asked about how easy it would be to create a coherent structure that involved all its star talent. But speaking at the recent Dutch Grand Prix, Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack said it would not be a big issue to resolve. “I think Formula 1 these days is so broad,” he said. “It is not like you have to make huge changes. “I think there was a time when there was a team that had seven technical directors in the past, so I think we are very far from that. I think someone like that, you have to make any kind of effort to integrate and adjust your structure to get the best out of it.” While Newey’s likely arrival at Aston Martin will be a huge boost to the team's long-term ambitions, with the Briton having won titles at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, current driver Fernando Alonso thinks it will take time for his impact to be felt. Asked at the Italian Grand Prix about the looming confirmation, Alonso said: “Well, still only rumours and I think it's not only [a] one-man job to fix the things.
He won, and I didn't make it to T1 when the guy in front decided to make it 3 wide, got it wrong and put me straight into the barrier. It's a crazy race though, a feat just to finish, the race before that I made up 6 places on the warm up lap after 2 separate incidents. The track is narrow and full of insane bumps, while the car has a fixed set-up which is twitchy anyway. And, although it's a superspeedway and should be a plate track, it isn't, so even out of the draft you're doing 205mph. I did have the chance to wreck him though, after my pit stop for my instant repair I came out to finish the race, on the last lap he and the guy he was racing (the only 2 who hadn't been in an incident I think) were right behind me on the back stretch and would've had to make the pass going into T3, and that probably wouldn't have gone well. I'm only a dick when racing some of my friends or wreckfest, so pulled off line and let them through. Thought it may have been someone using his name, but when I checked after the race it was definitely him.
Newey goes to Aston. Lance Stroll WDC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/c4gqd8lz9g1o Joking aside, it would be good to see Alonso battle for a 3rd F1 title.
The only question is ,how long or how soon ,can Newey produce a car able to fight at the front? The Red Bull took at least 3 or 4 years to give the brat his first championship addmittedly aided by Massi.
That was more power unit related iirc, They had Renault, who got it all wrong, and then Honda, who were late to the party had a few years to catch up.
Well all I hope Lance isn't there lucks into becoming a multiple WDC because Newey creates these WDC's. If anyone earns and deserves it, its Alonso. Wouldn't be shocked if the brat shows up there in 2026 and Neweys gets him more WDC's.
Look, newly can bring them direction and understanding on thr current rules but quite late in the day It's already too late to influence the car bar i suppose some consultation about what he knows. March 2025 stsrt sound like purely.about 2026 car. The rules are known and I presume they will start talking in earnest with newey doing nothing on his garden leave red bull car project. The new rules are heavy on engine change so one team might steal a march on this aspect so there will be some.luck involve don't just side. Moveable rear and front wings and the usual efforts to reduce downforce into he rules gives him scope to do what he does. I think when the sport is about to become even more artifical with changing car shapes and overtake buttons leading to some.very one sided battles I am.not exactly sure what the prime competitive advantage will be. But the usual stability. Downforce/drag and power equations still apply.
They could have had him for 5 years, for the cost of 1.5 years of Hamilton. Right now, it doesn’t feel like the right choice from a performance perspective, but I guess we’ll see.
