David Coulthard is at a loss as for how Ferrari, with “all that potential”, are not a regular race-winning force, and missed out on Adrian Newey.

The legendary F1 designer instead signed on the dotted line with Aston Martin, as Coulthard revealed the effort made to convince late Red Bull Racing team owner Dietrich Mateschitz to cough up the cash for Newey when he joined the team back in 2006.

Ferrari not delivering on true current F1 potential?

Not since their 2008 Constructors’ Championship triumph has Ferrari tasted title glory in Formula 1, while Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 Drivers’ Championship represents their most recent win in that category.

The signing of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton it was hoped would build upon the Ferrari momentum generated in 2024 – as the team pushed McLaren all the way to a Constructors’ title-decider in Abu Dhabi – but McLaren has pressed on from there and after nine rounds of F1 2025, are 197 points clear of Ferrari at the top of the standings.

And Ferrari’s situation is one which baffles Coulthard, the former Williams, McLaren and Red Bull driver a 13-time grand prix winner.

“Ferrari, the biggest name in Formula 1, has kind of not been nailing it,” he told GPBlog.

“How the hell can Ferrari not win consistently when you’ve got all of that global support and all of that potential.”

Ferrari were heavily linked with an exciting move for F1 design guru Adrian Newey after his exit from Red Bull, Newey having contributed to a total of 26 championship wins across his illustrious Formula 1 career.

But, Newey instead signed with the ambitious Aston Martin team, beginning work as their managing technical partner in March 2025, while he also became a shareholder in the team, with his focus on the new F1 2026 regulations as Aston Martin look to ace the revamped ruleset when their Honda engine deal comes into effect.

“Why did Aston Martin manage to persuade Adrian Newey, but Ferrari couldn’t?” Coulthard pondered.

While Coulthard dismissed money as the likely reason, since Ferrari were able to deliver a multi-year contract worth a reported $400 million+ to sign Lewis Hamilton, he opened up on the process of bringing Newey to Red Bull in 2006.

Coulthard became the Red Bull team’s first driver a year prior and knew Newey well from their days together at Williams and McLaren, but Newey’s impressive title-winning success with both teams came at a price which Mateschitz needed a nudge to pay.

“I remember back to when I was with Dietrich, and there was the chance to get Adrian,” Coulthard recalled. “It was a high figure, and Dietrich was like: ‘I won’t pay that for a designer.’

“And I went: ‘Well, you’d pay it for a driver, and a designer is arguably more important than a driver. If you’ve got a great car, an average driver can win races in it. If you’ve got an average car, you need an exceptional driver to win races. And if you’ve got an average car with an average driver, you’ll never win races.’

“So in the end, he obviously understood, agreed, and paid Adrian the money.”

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Speaking last year after deciding on Aston Martin as his new home on the F1 grid, Newey opened up on why he opted for the Silverstone-based squad – led by billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll – and said no to Ferrari.

“So once after a couple of months, decided yes, we’d like to stay in Formula 1, and Ferrari was for sure one of the considerations,” Newey told Sky Sports News.

“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I wanted to work with Fernando [Alonso] and I wanted to work with Lewis. And since they’re in different teams, I couldn’t fulfil both!

“But, I think for various reasons, particularly Lawrence’s sort of offer of shareholding and partnership and his commitment, and the fact that he is the only one of that old model of team owners, where you have an active team owner, like Frank Williams or Ron Dennis or Eddie Jordan.

“That was the model 20 years ago. Lawrence is the only one who is that model now.”

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