Team Principal Andy Cowell has confirmed, despite Aston Martin’s rocky 2025 F1 campaign, Adrian Newey will maintain his concentration on 2026 regulations rather than addressing current performance issues.
Newey, who joined Aston Martin following his highly successful tenure at Red Bull Racing, has been tasked with leading the team’s technical direction for the significant regulation changes coming in 2026.
Speaking to media in Jeddah, Cowell revealed that Newey’s attention remains entirely on the future project.
Newey is “100%” focused on 2026
“100% of Adrian’s designing time is focused on 2026,” Cowell told reporters on Thursday. “He joined in March, so there was a period of him getting up to speed with the regulations. Up to speed with the concept work that we’ve been doing in the preceding couple of months. There are some tough deadlines to meet for releasing monocoque details and transmission details.”
The 2026 season will introduce Formula 1’s most significant regulation changes in years. The regulations feature completely redesigned cars and power units that will feature increased electrical power and sustainable fuels. Cowell emphasised the compressed timeline facing the team to be ready.
“So getting a car ready for [the test in January] requires slightly earlier decision points, and clearly everything’s new, there’s zero carryover,” Cowell explained. “There’s lots of work there and Adrian’s just been focused on that.”
Limited input on current car
While Aston Martin continues to face performance challenges with their 2025 challenger, Cowell indicated that Newey’s contributions to the current car have been minimal. They’ve been primarily methodological rather than directly performance-related.
When questioned whether Newey had offered any insights into possible design flaws with the current car, Cowell clarified. “[Newey’s thoughts] are focused largely on the tools that we’re using rather than any direct performance aspects of the 25 car,” he said.
However, Cowell acknowledged that Newey’s assessment of the team’s current capabilities and processes has still provided value.
“But there is value in Adrian understanding the tools that we’ve got, the fidelity of those tools, and the precision with which they predict what’s going to happen on the racetrack,” he said.
Newey pushing for improvements at Aston Martin ahead of 2026
While Newey may be pushing for operational improvements, Cowell revealed that Newey has been impressed by Aston Martin’s state-of-the-art facilities. Their Silverstone headquarters includes a newly constructed wind tunnel.
“Adrian’s been hugely complimentary about the campus and has been positive about the tunnel that we’ve got and the way that everything’s been set up,” Cowell said.
This represents a significant change for Newey, who had formerly worked with Red Bull’s older wind tunnel facilities in Bedford.
Nevertheless, Cowell noted that Newey’s competitive nature means he’s already investigating how to enhance the team’s operations.
“He is, of course, pushing for us to improve the way we operate in the tunnel… He’s got thoughts on how to improve pretty much everything. That’s the great thing about Adrian’s competitive drive,” Cowell added.
