Lewis Hamilton insists he is not disappointed that he will not get the chance to work with F1 design great Adrian Newey at Ferrari next season.
The seven-time world champion had previously admitted it would be a “privilege” to join forces with Newey when his Red Bull exit was announced in May. He added that the legendary designer was the number one person he wanted to work with in F1.
Ferrari had been heavily-linked with a move for Newey but Aston Martin ultimately won the race for his services, announcing the statement signing ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku.
Asked by Crash.net if any part of him was disappointed that Newey won’t be joining him at Ferrari, Hamilton replied: “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.”
Charles Leclerc echoed his future Ferrari teammate’s comments, stressing: “There are no disappointments. It’s not like we haven’t tried or spoken to Adrian. I know that there were talks and he made his decision. I respect his decision.
“At the end as Ferrari, we have always considered more the group than the individual. Of course Adrian has an incredible palmaras [record] and has done amazing things.
“But we have an amazing group and I have no doubts that going forward we have an extremely strong team to come back at the top. I’m really happy with the structure.
“Obviously it’s Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari team principal]’s job to try and put the team in the best possible place to try and win races and I 200 percent trust Fred and I’m completely onboard with his vision.
“It’s a continuous process to try and improve Ferrari over the years and we are in the middle of this process. But I am super happy with the way he sees things and the things he does.”
