F1 News
Aston Martin see Alonso excited: 'Would've paid part of Newey wage himself'
With the addition of Adrian Newey, Aston Martin now have a star-studded technical staff and a clear ambition to return to the top. Team principal Mike Krack welcomed the British designer to the team, and also jokingly said that two-time world champion was willing to contribute to Newey's wage to make the move happen.
The team principal was over the moon when Aston Martin officially announced Newey. "It's very exciting for all of us. I'm still smiling. Do you see me smiling?" Krack told GPblog and others in Baku.
"It was difficult to stop smiling. I think it's fantastic news for us as a team. The enthusiasm is enormous. It was a very badly kept secret. But when the news was communicated internally, it was just mega to see 800 people cheering. Then when Adrian came on the stage, it was even more so. That was really nice, very impressive," he continued about his team's announcement.
'Alonso would have contributed himself'
After leaving Red Bull Racing, Newey was clear that he either wanted to work with Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso, while the Spaniard also has a lot of respect for the Briton's work in the competition. The team principal also joked that Alonso would have contributed to the top designer's wages. "I think it is clear Fernando has a long future in this team. He was all excited about it on Tuesday also when we had the discussions. He was even saying that he will pay his wages to pay Adrian. There was a talk about 10%, 20%. So I will find out later today how much it really is," Krack joked.
"You can really see the huge respect that these two people have for each other. I think they want to achieve something. For Adrian, he always wanted to work with someone like Fernando and vice versa. So I think we have to try to get everything in place and also facilitate a good collaboration between these two. We know that he comes to races and that is something again, we need to facilitate and try to learn as much as we can from it. Being open and flexible," he concluded.
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