Adrian Newey's Lewis Hamilton F1 dream SHATTERED in latest 'what if?' moment

Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey at Ferrari — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Features

Newey's Hamilton dream SHATTERED in F1's latest 'what if?' moment

Adrian Newey and Ferrari may join other partnerships F1 should have seen

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Wednesday 11 September 2024 17:00

Some things are just never meant to happen, and the rock star designer of Formula 1 Adrian Newey heading to Ferrari in a Lewis Hamilton dream team looks like it is going to be the one that got away.

Newey has instead signed a blockbuster deal at Aston Martin, reported to be worth up to $40 million per year.

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There's been plenty of 'what if?' moments in F1 history that for whatever reason just didn't come to pass. Some as miniscule as a driver going to prison at short notice and thus helping parachute Michael Schumacher into F1. Others include Robert Kubica's rally crash denying him a future move to Ferrari and effectively ending his chances of becoming a multiple race winner and world champion.

Others never really came close to happening, but probably should have in terms of natural fit. Newey to Ferrari is arguably one of them, but for now, GPFans has looked at the biggest F1 moves that never happened.

Fernando Alonso to Red Bull

Fernando Alonso never made the switch to the Red Bull team

The closest a deal came to ever materialising was in 2008, when the Spaniard then in a declining Renault team was offered a two-year contract to join the team for 2009 and 2010. As is typical of Alonso's questionable career choices, he opted to stay at Renault for another hapless campaign before securing a 2010 Ferrari drive, during which he would watch Sebastian Vettel take Red Bull's first win in 2009 and then pip him to the championship a year later. How's that for a gut punch?

Alonso, perhaps realizing his mistake, even offered to join the team mid-way through the 2009 season - while another discussion took place during Red Bull's dominance in the early 2010s in the back of an Alfa Romeo at Spa airport. The moment though had passed and it seems that chapter in F1 is now firmly closed with the 43-year-old having effectively put pen to paper to end his career with Aston Martin.

Ayrton Senna to Ferrari

Ayrton Senna enjoyed the prime of his career with McLaren

All the greats drive for Ferrari. But there is a notable exclusion from that list. There is a good reason why Ayrton Senna hadn't already driven for the Scuderia before his premature death in 1994 - and it's because they were not very good.

By 'not very good' I mean even the strategic flaws the team have shown now in recent times are nothing like the mess Ferrari were in during much of Senna's career. A man of Senna's talents meant he was only ever focused on being rewarded with the best car, so after proving himself at the top with Lotus he spent most of his career leading the pack with McLaren, and then later on doing just about everything he could to land himself in a Patrick Head/Adrian Newey designed Williams.

Yet, it would seem odd for a Senna-Ferrari link-up not to happen at some point had he not suffered a fatal crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. When that would have happened though would have been the question. Williams went on to have the best car in 1995, 1996 and even in 1997 - so leaving the team in this period would have been a tough choice for nothing but promises from Ferrari boss Jean Todt. He would have been 38 years old by the time Williams were truly uncompetitive and Ferrari were on the rise. Maybe then? Sadly we will never know.

Sebastian Vettel to Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel enjoys a positive relationship with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

Vettel was a Red Bull guy, and even with the benefit of hindsight, he made the right call to walk away from the team in 2015 in trying to emulate his German compatriot Michael Schumacher at Ferrari. Granted, he missed out on titles and probably dented his F1 reputation in doing so given the curious spins and loss of form as his career with the team progressed.

But he would have only wondered 'what if?' had he not done so, and is probably satisfied he did all he could. However, it would have also been fun seeing what he could have done at Mercedes. It wasn't going to happen while Lewis Hamilton was top dog. Vettel's retired now, but would still be open to a return and for much of this season he had been linked with the Silver Arrows drive again. He gets on with boss Toto Wolff and a German driving the car for the first time since 2016 with Nico Rosberg makes marketable sense.

Maybe there is another chapter to the Vettel story still to come in F1, but sadly an all-German link up at Mercedes doesn't look like materialising anytime soon.

Michael Schumacher to McLaren

Michael Schumacher was targeted by McLaren during 1998

McLaren were the defacto Mercedes team given they powered by them during the late 1990s and as recently as 10 years ago, and it was at Mercedes where Schumacher's junior career took shape. Of course what we did get was his eventual move to the actual Mercedes team in 2010 but by then the German was in his 40s and his best years had long deserted him.

But what about a Schumacher driving with Mercedes power in his prime? He enjoyed an immense battle with McLaren in the late 1990s and early 2000s while driving for Ferrari and was even approached by the team twice. Once before joining Ferrari in 1996 and again two years later.

Schumacher though never really came close to finalizing an agreement, and was even unimpressed with Ron Dennis's approach in 1995 - and you can see the opening of those exchanges here at a Monaco fashion show.

Jacques Villeneuve to Ferrari

Jacques Villeneuve won the F1 world championship in 1997

To be clear, this move never even got beyond a shortlist of replacements, but there is something that seems incomplete in Formula 1 that the great Gilles Villeneuve is a Ferrari legend, and yet his son, who eclipsed his father by becoming world champion in 1997, got nowhere near to driving for the Scuderia.

He fits the bill. Outspoken, ballsy, the son of a Ferrari legend and of course, quick. The Ferrari tifosi would have quickly taken to him that's for sure. Timing was the problem here - from both perspectives. With Michael Schumacher around, there was no need for Villeneuve at Ferrari especially as he was more likely to rock the boat than the more placid and reliable team-mates Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello - his blocked path of entrance to Ferrari during most of his years in F1. You only had to see the 1997 title fight between Villeneuve and Schumacher to understand that driver pairing was never going to work in a month of Sundays.

The only way this move could ever have been done was for the 1999 season. Had Schumacher agreed to a McLaren move to replace David Coulthard, then a swoop for the 1997 world champion away from the declining Williams would have been the ideal moment. By the time Barrichello left Ferrari in late 2005, the Canadian's best years were already behind him to the point he didn't even see out the 2006 season with BMW-Sauber.

Juan Pablo Montoya to Ferrari

Juan Pablo Montoya's fiery nature won him lots of fans in F1

While you would have forgiven Ferrari to have Villeneuve on a shortlist should they have lost Schumacher to McLaren, Montoya to Ferrari never even got to the design stages, which is a huge shame because he really is a Ferrari driver at heart.

Full of passion, never afraid to take a risk, but crucially fast and aggressively so. Montoya wasn't one to shy away from interviews too, and while his devil-may-care attitude shook people up the wrong way, it also won him admiration from millions of F1 fans who loved the character he brought to the sport which was becoming duller every passing fortnight of yet another Schumacher title procession.

Like Villeneuve, there was simply no room for him at Schumacher's Ferrari and after leaving Williams in 2004 he moved to the corporate McLaren team in 2005. It simply wasn't a good fit for someone like Montoya to be paired with a strict disciplinarian like team boss Ron Dennis, and it was not a surprise to see that relationship broken beyond repair just halfway into the 2006 season when he departed F1 for good.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Aston Martin Adrian Newey Michael Schumacher