McLaren ruled out of the Adrian Newey chase as F1 rumors continue to swirl

Zak Brown confirmed on Wednesday that McLaren was out of the running for Adrian Newey

As rumors continue to swirl regarding Adrian Newey’s next Formula 1 stop, one team can officially be ruled out of the race to land arguably the greatest designer in the sport’s history.

McLaren.

The team’s CEO spoke with BBC Sport for a feature released Wednesday, addressing the team’s sharp rise up the standings and a potential title fight with Red Bull. But near the end of the piece, Brown addressed speculation that Newey could return to McLaren and made it clear that such a reunion was not in the works.

“We’re not going to sign Adrian,” Brown said to BBC Sport. “I’m very happy with the team. Adrian is a great friend, huge talent, resume second to none. But with what we have in place here, I couldn’t be happier. We can get the job done. I’m happy with the race team we have and we’re going to try to win the world championship with the team sitting here today.”

Brown’s comments surfaced a day after reporting in Italian media indicated that Newey had decided on his next stop after Red Bull and that Aston Martin had won the race for his services. Per reporting from Italian outlet Autosprint, that decision will see him join Aston Martin on a whopping four-year contract worth $100 million. It is alleged that Newey was swayed by Lawrence Stroll’s vision for the team’s future, a vision that includes a massive new, purpose-built Silverstone-based campus. Furthermore, the team is switching to a Honda-supplied power unit for the 2026 season, just as the new regulations arrive.

Brown’s statement regarding Newey is not the only bit of news that continues to blow in Aston Martin’s direction. Additional reporting from Autosprint released Wednesday noted that Ferrari was happy to match whatever salary demands Newey made with a “whatever it takes” but the designer asked for decision-making powers as well, which is when Ferrari hit the pause button.

Now that McLaren is officially out of the Newey chase, and Ferrari seems to be as well, perhaps only Williams can stop a move to Aston Martin.