£30m payday touted but “bargain” Adrian Newey is “underpaid”

Adrian Newey’s huge salary from Aston Martin will be well worth it, it has been claimed.

Red Bull’s chief technology officer is just months away from official starting at Aston Martin, where he will be their managing technical partner and a shareholder.

Aston Martin’s billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll will reportedly make Newey better-paid than 18 of the current 20 F1 drivers in his pursuit of glory.

“The figure I am most confident about - and there are a lot of figures in the public domain - is a basic salary of $25m per year, which is just under £20m,” Sky Sports’ Craig Slater reported.

“The bonuses could lift that by another half. So, £30m.

“The agreement is for five years but it’s open-ended because he’s a shareholder. So it could be for the foreseeable.

“Those are the terms, which are more competitive than anyone else was offering.

“Eddie Jordan was an aggressive representative for Newey. The bidding started at $50m but Lawrence Stroll was able to knock that down. That’s what I’ve been told.

“Martin Brundle always describes Newey as disgracefully underpaid.”

Ted Kravitz added: “That’s a bargain. Stroll said he was a bargain.

“If you move from fifth in the constructors’ to fourth, it’s £15m. Fifth to first, let’s say in a couple of years, there is your £50m.”

Slater added: “He will work full-time here. At Red Bull he was involved in other projects.

“He signalled that he would put in a good, hard shift. It is F1-focused, any road car project is for down the line.

“The priority is to get the F1 team winning.”

Newey will officially start at the Silverstone-based team in March.

F1’s greatest-ever car designer will have time to oversee Aston Martin’s 2026 car, potentially giving them a massive advantage for when the new regulations start.