Some elements of the Ferrari team ‘regret’ missing out on Adrian Newey’s signature after his Red Bull exit last year, it has been claimed.

It comes as Newey prepares to make his first trackside appearance as an Aston Martin employee at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Adrian Newey: Ferrari’s biggest regret?

Additional reporting by Mat Coch

Ferrari were heavily linked with a move for Newey after the F1 design guru announced his decision to leave Red Bull a year ago, with reports at the time claiming team principal Fred Vasseur flew to London with talks for Newey ahead of last year’s Miami Grand Prix.

However, a move to Maranello failed to come for fruition for Newey, who confirmed Aston Martin as his new team last September.

The 66-year-old officially began his new role as managing technical partner ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March, with Newey becoming a shareholder in the Aston Martin F1 team in the process.

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Rumours last year claimed that Ferrari baulked at Newey’s demands during negotiations, with the team reluctant to be drawn into a bidding war with Aston Martin for his signature.

Aston Martin have confirmed to PlanetF1.com that Newey will make his first trackside appearance with the team at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

And ahead of the Monte Carlo race, a report by respected Italian publication Corriere della Sera has claimed that some inside Ferrari ‘regretted not taking him’ when they had the chance in 2024.

Ferrari have suffered an underwhelming start to the new season, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton limited to just one podium finish between them so far.

It emerged last week that the team are working on a pivotal mid-season upgrade as the Scuderia strive to rescue their season, with a revised rear suspension expected to appear the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July.

It is hoped that the part will cure Ferrari’s well-documented ride-height issues, having been forced to run the SF-25 car in a compromised state since the Australian GP.

Newey is currently working on Aston Martin’s new car for the first year of the new regulations in F1 2026 in conjunction with incoming engine supplier Honda and team partners Aramco and Valvoline, all of whom signed a ‘technical collaboration agreement’ last year.

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Newey recently sparked suggestions that he has discovered a potential loophole in the F1 2026 rules by claiming that the new regulations contain more scope for “innovation” that first thought.

It comes after the F1 legend made similar comments about the new rules in 2022, which saw Red Bull reassert their dominance with Max Verstappen.

Newey told Aston Martin’s official website: “My thoughts on the ’26 regulations are similar to what my thoughts were about the big regulation change for 2022: initially thinking the regulations were so prescriptive that there wasn’t much left here [for a designer].

“But then you start to drill into the detail and realise there’s more flexibility for innovation and different approaches than first meets the eye.

“We saw that at the start of 2022, with teams taking really quite different directions.

“Now, of course, four seasons on, they’ve largely converged, but initially that wasn’t the case.

“Variation between teams is great. It’s all a bit boring if the cars look identical and the only way you can tell them apart is the livery.

“I think there’s a high probability that in ’26 we’ll see something similar to ’22.

“There’s enough flexibility in the regulations, and I’m sure people will come up with different solutions.

“Some of those will be dropped over the first two or three years as teams start to converge.”

Newey’s comments were picked up by Damon Hill, the F1 1996 World Champion and former Sky F1 pundit, who interpreted the Aston Martin man’s words as a sure sign that he has discovered a trick for the team’s 2026 car.

In response to Newey’s interview, Hill wrote on Instagram: “Hmmm. He’s found something.”

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