Guenther Steiner fears F1 team may look 'pretty stupid' after Adrian Newey hint dropped
Guenther Steiner has spoken out about what he believes the future could hold for Adrian Newey.
Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes that Williams could be left looking ‘pretty stupid’ if their pursuit of Adrian Newey is unsuccessful.
Newey is set to leave Red Bull at the end of the season after enjoying plenty of success with the team, and the design guru is already attracting interest from across the grid – with many teams keen to steal a march on their rivals by striking an agreement with the 65-year-old.
Williams are among the teams interested in Newey, with team principal James Vowles revealing that he had already held preliminary talks over a potential deal. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has also been identified as a target after it revealed that he will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at the end of the season, and discussions have also taken place with the 29-year-old.
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However, Steiner believes that Williams’ public pursuit of the duo is ‘wishful thinking’ and he believes that the Grove outfit could be left red-faced by both sagas.
He told the Red Flags podcast: “A few weeks ago, Adrian Newey was going there. I don’t hear anything about that one anymore. I don’t think they’re rumours. James said them openly. It’s not a rumour.
“If the team principal says that he is speaking with Adrian, obviously the press picks it up. That is what the press are there for. If somebody says [something], you need to [report it]. Obviously not knowing if it is serious or not, I would say it’s a little bit of wishful thinking.
“Obviously he’s going to speak to people – that is what you [should] be doing, you should be speaking – but before you say [it] you need to be a little more certain that they will happen.
“If Toto or Fred said who they speak to all day long, we would be like: ‘Wow, next year Ferrari will need a new building to fit in all the people they spoke with.’ It’s a little bit of namedropping as well: ‘We are getting Adrian Newey here.’
“Does Adrian really want to go to Williams? I don’t know. Maybe he wants to, but Adrian has got a lot of opportunities out there. He can pick where he can go. I don’t know why he would pick Williams, but maybe he knows. Maybe they offer him something somebody else cannot offer him, maybe he gets half of the team [to own].”
Newey is in no rush to commit his future to a constructor and the Red Bull designer may opt to bide his time and see all options on the table before deciding which team will be the best option for him at this stage in his career.
