Lewis Hamilton says he is not disappointed he will not have the chance to work with Formula 1 design guru Adrian Newey at Ferrari next season after the 65-year-old was confirmed for Aston Martin from next year, Afrosport reports.
The seven-time world champion had previously stated it would be a “privilege” to work with Newey after his Red Bull exit was announced in May and was heavily linked with a move to Ferrari.
Aston Martin however won the race to acquire the 65-year-old’s services which was announced ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grant Prix.
When asked ahead of the race weekend if he was disappointed by the news, Hamilton, who will join Ferrari from Mercedes next year, said: “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.”
Meanwhile, reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen has refused to get drawn on any potential interest from Aston Martin in the future because of Newey’s influence.
Newey has been an instrumental figure in Red Bull Racing’s success over the past two decades, and Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll reportedly has an eye on the Dutch driver. Verstappen however said he has more things to worry about at the moment.
“Again, like I said before, I have other worries that I am worrying about at the moment and that I am paying attention to and working on,” he explained.
“That is something maybe for the future that I think about, but not now.”
He however admitted that working with Newey makes a move to Aston Martin potentially attractive.
“I don’t know, I’ve worked with him, so I know how he is as a person also and what he can do,” he added.
“I think everyone would like to work with Adrian in their career. So, yes, potentially it is, yeah.”
Verstappen currently leads the world championship by 62 points over McLaren’s Lando Norris but has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
