It’s a warm, smug sort of thought, isn’t it? That you could just throw money at a problem, like lobbing loose change at a busker, and suddenly you’re the king of the world. Or in Lawrence Stroll’s case, the king of Formula One.
Now, there are few places where the concept of ‘buying success’ rings more true than in the high-octane, ultra-glamorous world of F1. And it’s a narrative as old as time: the plucky underdog dethroning the incumbent monarch with a little cash and a lot of cunning. We just need to look at the 2009 season and the amazing wonder that was Brawn GP with Ross Brawn buying a team for one pound just before the start of the season and winning the championship by the end of it. Except here, the plucky underdog is a billionaire with more yachts than you have socks, and his cunning move is to hire the best mind in the business. Enter Adrian Newey, the Michelangelo of F1 car design.
For those unfamiliar, Newey’s not just some bloke who sketches out go-faster stripes in crayon. He’s the mastermind behind many a championship-winning car. Red Bull, Williams, McLaren—they’ve all basked in the glory of Newey’s genius. So when the news broke that Stroll, owner of the Aston Martin F1 team, might be looking to secure Newey’s signature once he had decided to leave Red Bull, eyebrows shot up faster than an F1 car off the starting grid. Is this just a case of ‘here we go again,’ with a rich man thinking he can buy himself a crown?
Let’s not beat around the bush—Formula One is a game of obscene wealth. Always has been. But while the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes pour millions into wind tunnels and tyre compounds, it’s the brain behind the machine that often makes the real difference. Sure, money can buy you state-of-the-art tech, but it can’t buy you the uncanny knack of reading airflow like it’s a Sunday crossword, and that’s where Newey comes in. He’s the chap who can look at a car’s aerodynamic profile and see not just a sleek bit of engineering, but victory—or failure. It’s the kind of instinct you can’t teach or buy; it’s just… there. Like some blessed, magical talent that makes the rest of us mere mortals feel woefully inadequate.
Lawrence Stroll is no stranger to splashing the cash. He’s already dragged Aston Martin out of the midfield mire with the kind of financial clout that turns heads and raises eyebrows. But Stroll knows that having a budget larger than the GDP of a small nation is only half the battle. The other half is knowing what to do with it. And what better way to spend your millions than by hiring the best in the business?
Newey signing to join Aston Martin is a coup of historic proportions. It would be like Real Madrid signing Lionel Messi in his prime, or Apple hiring Jonny Ive’s to design their mobile phone idea. It’s an audacious, bold, and undeniably risky move, but that’s precisely the kind of move that Stroll loves. He’s not in this for the slow and steady climb up the ranks. He wants champagne on the podium, not flat Prosecco in the pit lane.
But let’s not get carried away. For all of Newey’s talents, he’s not a one-man band. It’s not as if he’s strapping into the car himself and setting lap records. F1 is still a team sport, one that requires not just a wizard of design but drivers who can squeeze every last drop of performance from the car, pit crews that operate like Swiss watches, and strategies that are more 4D chess than checkers. And let’s not forget, Newey’s been at Red Bull for yonks, crafting cars around the driving style of Max Verstappen, who, by all accounts, could probably win a race in a shopping trolley.
What Stroll is really buying is not just Newey’s brain but his credibility. The cachet that comes with having Adrian Newey on your payroll is immense. It’s a statement that Aston Martin isn’t just here to make up the numbers; they’re here to win. But credibility doesn’t always translate into championships. Just ask Ferrari.
So has Lawrence Stroll bought himself the Formula One World Championship by potentially hiring Adrian Newey? Well, he’s certainly bought himself a fighting chance. But F1 is a fickle beast. One minute you’re sipping Moët in Monaco, the next you’re trudging through gravel traps wondering where it all went wrong. Stroll’s gamble, if it pays off, could be a masterstroke. If it doesn’t, it’ll be yet another footnote in the long, costly saga of F1 dreams gone awry.
At the end of the day, success in Formula One isn’t just about who has the deepest pockets but who uses them best. And if Stroll can pull this off, it won’t just be because he threw a wad of cash at a problem. It’ll be because he understood what really makes a winning team. And that, dear reader, would be worth every penny.
Richard Alvin
Richard Alvin is a serial entrepreneur, a former advisor to the UK Government about small business and an Honorary Teaching Fellow on Business at Lancaster University.
A winner of the London Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the year and Freeman of the City of London for his services to business and charity. Richard is also Group MD of Capital Business Media and SME business research company Trends Research, regarded as one of the UK’s leading experts in the SME sector and an active angel investor and advisor to new start companies.
Richard is also the host of Save Our Business the U.S. based business advice television show.
