Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur admits he recently held talks with Adrian Newey.
Most Formula 1 teams, if not all, also explored the golden opportunity of snapping up the sport’s most coveted technical brain since he announced earlier this year that he will be progressively stepping away from Red Bull.
In the end, Newey’s two biggest options were Ferrari and Aston Martin - and billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s Silverstone-based project ultimately won the day.
The news will be confirmed officially at Aston Martin’s refurbished and growing Silverstone HQ on Tuesday. The Spanish broadcaster DAZN will even be putting the event on television live, given the country’s interest in Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso.
Pedro de la Rosa, an Aston Martin brand ambassador, will be on hand to give his live reaction - a sure sign that the press conference really is to confirm the seismic Newey news.
Some weeks ago, it was suggested that the talks between Newey, 65, and Ferrari boss Vasseur broke down because of the British engineer’s excessive demands.
"There were discussions," Frenchman Vasseur has now admitted to L’Equipe.
"He probably had a different idea of what I had in mind for him," he added. "Maybe we’ll be on the same page one day."
That possibility will have to wait, however, with authoritative sources reporting that Newey has signed a five-year contract with Aston Martin - to earn him an eye-watering $150 million-plus.
Vasseur insists he has no great regrets that Ferrari didn’t secure the deal.
"It is not an individual that determines the outcome for a team," he said. "The group is always stronger than the individual."
Ferrari recently lost its technical director Enrico Cardile to Aston Martin - and has snapped up Mercedes’ Loic Serra to replace him.
"Loic’s strength is that he is a very experienced man who has worked at the highest level for an enormous amount of time," Vasseur said. "And he is also a real racer."
Another new signing for Ferrari is former F1 driver Jerome d’Ambrosio, who was most recently in a management role alongside Toto Wolff at Mercedes.
"It was important to have someone with his knowledge," said Vasseur, referring to Belgian d’Ambrosio. "He has experienced everything in the racing world, as a driver, a team boss, a CEO. He knows this job."