Adrian Newey’s wife responds to “disrespect” accusation about Lewis Hamilton

Adrian Newey did not disrespect Lewis Hamilton in a discussion about the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his wife insists.

Newey has been at the centre of the F1 world this week as he was unveiled as Aston Martin’s new Managing Technical Partner.

He will exit Red Bull early next year and will begin work at his new employer in March 2025.

Newey spoke at length to the High Performance Podcast about Abu Dhabi three years ago, where race director Michael Masi’s application of the Safety Car rule resulted in Hamilton missing out on a record eighth F1 title.

Max Verstappen pinched the title on the final lap and is now fighting for a fourth in a row.

“No it didn’t [affect me],” Newey said about the controversy in Abu Dhabi.

“I think it got to Mercedes. Instead of saying ‘OK, we will accept it and move on’ it started to affect their psyche which is an interesting one.

“That’s from the outside. I could be completely wrong. They couldn’t let it go psychologically.”

A comment from a user on social media claimed: “Shame he disrespected Lewis with him comments to Jake Humphries.”

But Amanda Newey, the car design genius’ wife, responded: “No, he didn't. He has a great deal of respect for Lewis.”

But, British F1 legends Hamilton and Newey will likely never work together.

Hamilton has signed for Ferrari in 2025 who were also in the mix to recruit Newey, until he opted instead for Aston Martin.

Hamilton was asked in Baku this weekend by Crash.net if he is disappointed that he won’t work with Newey next year, and he answered: “Honestly, no.

“I feel like, while I’ve mentioned before that it would be an honour to work with Adrian, I have been privileged to work with two championship-winning teams that didn’t have Adrian.

“I think any team probably would have been happy to have had him. But at the end of the day he had to do what was best for him. It doesn’t change anything for me. It doesn’t change my goal, or my focus with the next move.

“So I still believe 100% that there’s lots we can do there.”