Adrian Newey out to build car that will tempt Max Verstappen to Aston Martin
Aston Martin’s designer Adrian Newey has entered what he says his wife calls a “design trance” as he works flat out on the team’s new car for 2026, pointedly noting that if the team are to attract Max Verstappen to their stable the only way is to build a championship-winning car.The 66-year-old’s switch to Aston Martin from Red Bull last year was one of the biggest coups in Formula One in recent years and Newey was speaking while attending his first race with the team at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, having begun working with them in March.“I had a weekend off two weeks ago, other than that it’s been pretty much full on since I started,” he said.“My wife, she says I go into a design trance and I can understand what she means.When I get into this sort of period of intense concentration, where I tend to not see left and right, all my processing power is going into one area, which is trying to work with the design of a fast racing car.
”Newey announced he was leaving Red Bull in April 2024 but could not contractually begin with Aston until this season.In Monte Carlo he confirmed that since then he has been working at full capacity on their car for 2026, the first for the new regulations which will come into play that season.The team have repeatedly been linked to attempts to persuade the four-time champion Verstappen to join.Newey, who was instrumental at Red Bull in the Dutchman’s titles, said Verstappen’s head would be turned only if he was offered the right machinery.“Max is clearly a phenomenal talent, he’s a supreme competitor and part of that means that Max likes to break things down to a simple common equation,” he said.
“That is choosing a team that he believes will deliver the fastest car, so if we’re to ever attract Max, the first thing we have to do is make a fast car,”During the period after Newey announced he was leaving Red Bull, the team played down his influence on their latest car, suggesting his role had been reduced to working on it only two or three days a week,It is a claim Newey was understood to resent and disagree with,He was insistent in Monaco that his work commitment to Aston Martin was absolute,He has signed a long-term deal, worth what is believed to be up to £30m a year, and will become a shareholder.
Newey’s reputation in F1 is second to none and he is one of the most sought-after talents in the paddock,Cars he has played a key role in designing have taken 13 drivers’ and 13 constructors’ championships for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull,Since his first with Nigel Mansell and Williams in 1992, he has helped secure titles for Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen,He was persuaded to join Aston Martin by the team’s owner, Lawrence Stroll, as part of the Canadian’s commitment to making them championship contenders,Newey also acknowledged he was working “99%” on next year’s car and that he felt the facilities at Aston Martin were exemplary, but that part of his task was to ensure the personnel, whom he praised as highly talented, were best able to exploit their potential.
“The factory is probably the best factory in F1 and the wind tunnel is arguably the best wind tunnel in F1,” he said.“But ultimately wind tunnels are a bit like engine dynos, you need them and a really good wind tunnel, of course, but ultimately it’s not really the thing that makes the difference, it’s the human element of the design you put into it.”
England thrash West Indies by nine wickets: second women’s T20 international – as it happened
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s reactionHappy days! The bowlers set the game up beautifully. When you’ve got someone only two games into their career who is begging to bowl four overs straight through, it’s a dream. Em was on a roll and it seemed a shame to take her off.Cricket’s a funny game, isn’t it? I lasted two balls on Wednesday and tonight I get a first-ball boundary.We set a high standard with our fielding in the first game but I’m pretty sure we topped that here tonight
Sciver-Brunt inspires England to wrap up T20 series win over West Indies
Forget Bondi to Coogee – England are queens of a different seaside town. On Friday night at Hove they sealed their T20 series against West Indies with a nine-wicket win, thanks to a three-wicket haul by new-kid-on-the-block Em Arlott and a captain’s innings of 55 not out from their new skipper, Nat Sciver-Brunt.The 27-year-old Warwickshire seamer Arlott, having been handed her England cap just 48 hours previously, apparently impressed Charlotte Edwards, the new coach, so much on debut that she was promoted to open the bowling from the Sea End. She subsequently sent down a consecutive four-over spell of such accuracy that it yielded just 14 runs, despite three of the overs being inside the powerplay.“I was told: ‘You’ll have one in the powerplay and go from there and adjust,’” Arlott said
Crocombe skittles Hampshire as Lancashire toil again – as it happened
High spring hangs over this final May round of Championship cricket, the international summer pulling eyeballs away, the lack of rain leaving parched pitches.A good crowd collected on the apple-green benches sitting around the Grace Road boundary. They saw Lancashire get off to a steaming start thanks to Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells, but then fold in familiar fashion to patient Leicestershire bowling. Logan van Beek removed the two openers either side of lunch, finishing with three for 38, while Josh Hull found some devil in the dirt. Leicestershire lost two evening wickets, but Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Hill saw the day out
‘My happy place’: Shoaib Bashir’s delight after taking historic 50th Test wicket
Once again Shoaib Bashir excelled in an England shirt where he has struggled elsewhere, the 21-year-old taking three of the 11 Zimbabwe wickets to fall at Trent Bridge – more than he managed across three matches for Glamorgan in this year’s County Championship – to become the youngest player to claim 50 Test scalps for his country.So far 54% of the deliveries in Bashir’s first-class career have been sent down in a senior England shirt, leading to 72% of his wickets. “It’s different times of year, different opposition, batters play you differently,” Bashir said of his comparative success in internationals. “I walk into this England team and I feel 10ft tall because of the backing I get, and that makes a massive difference. I feel like I’m very well backed here
Sam Cook strikes early but he’s still in a race against time to convince England | Andy Bull
Finally getting his chance after a decade in county cricket, medium pacer needs to make an impact in Zimbabwe’s second innings to prove he deserves his placeThe slower you bowl, the faster people are to make up their minds about you. Which means that if you work at Sam Cook’s pace, the margins are pretty slim. There have been plenty of English bowlers round about Cook’s 80mph who got only a summer of Test cricket, some who were allowed only a single series, a handful who were given just the one Test.England used to make a tradition of picking a new one every spring, so you’ll probably find that bloke in the tracksuit teaching the colts how to bowl at the club down the road had a gig opening the bowling for their country once upon a summer.By the time Cook was five balls into his debut, people were already wondering exactly where his Test match career was leading
Bennett scores Zimbabwe’s fastest Test century before England regain grip
There were a few sideways glances during the first day of Zimbabwe’s first Test match in England for 22 years, followed by calls for cricket’s longest format to adopt a two-division structure. After a flogging like the one their players had just suffered across three sessions, perhaps this was to be expected.But on day two, cheered on by some wonderful pockets of support, the tourists mustered a pushback. First came an improved showing with the ball, England losing three for 67 to declare on 565 for six, followed by something of a fairytale century from the opener Brian Bennett. Though bowled out for 265, and closing on 30 for two following on, Zimbabwe had given their hosts a far stiffer outing
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