Analysis
Formula 1
What is on Newey’s to-do list on his Aston Martin arrival
Legendary designer Adrian Newey starts his new chapter in Formula 1 today. What will he find at Aston Martin and what are the main challenges?
Ronald Vording
Published: Mar 3, 2025, 4:31 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The walls of Adrian Newey's office have already been painted, Andy Cowell revealed during testing in Bahrain. It refers to an anecdote from Newey's time at McLaren, when the designer added more colour to his office, leaving Ron Dennis utterly speechless, as the team boss was used to everything grey. "Ron turned purple," Newey joked at the time.
At Aston Martin, the colour of his design office won't be a talking point. Cowell confirmed that the office was ready for Newey to move in. "The drawing board is there," the Aston Martin CEO and team principal added.
Newey officially starts at Aston Martin today after his period of gardening leave has ended. On 1 May 2024, Red Bull announced what had already been known for weeks: Newey was leaving the team that he helped secure six constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ championships. A few months later, on 10 September, the announcement followed that Aston Martin would become Newey's next destination in Formula 1.
What structure awaits Newey at Aston Martin?
Between Newey's announcement and his actual starting date, several things have changed. Not only has Cowell taken on the dual role of team principal and CEO, but in November the team also communicated that Dan Fallows had been reassigned to a different role. Fallows, who had previously worked with Newey at Red Bull, served as Aston Martin's technical director but has been moved to "another role within the Aston Martin Group".
This opened the door for a new technical leadership duo: Enrico Cardile, who joins from Ferrari, and Newey. Cardile has officially been appointed as chief technical officer and "will oversee the architecture, design, and build of the new cars," according to the team. Newey's official title is "Managing Technical Partner," alongside becoming a co-shareholder of the Silverstone-based team.
Dual technical leadership is nothing new and is how Newey operated at Red Bull as well. There, Pierre Wache managed the daily operations as technical director, while Newey looked at the bigger picture. Wache explained this division of roles in a recent interview: "He was not involved in the process on a daily basis but approached things more from the sidelines and constantly challenged us. That was very useful and happened in various ways, from mechanics to aerodynamics. He looked over our shoulders and asked, ‘Have you thought about this and have you thought about that?’ That feedback was extremely valuable to us."
The working method with Wache handling day-to-day operations and Newey overseeing the bigger technical picture has proven successful, especially under the regulations that were introduced in 2022.
With Cardile and Newey, Aston Martin can count on two heavyweights as technical leaders, but a crucial question remains: when will Cardile actually start? In July 2024, Ferrari announced his departure, but the duration of his gardening leave was not specified. Aston Martin did not disclose this information in its announcement either, nor when Cowell was explicitly asked about it during winter testing in Bahrain: "We're looking forward to having a thousand people working well together. We're looking forward to Adrian joining. We're looking forward to the dozens of new starters that we have every month. I think it was 248 through the 2024 calendar year."
When asked a second time about Cardile’s start date, Cowell laughed and responded: "Does anyone else have a question?" A third attempt was equally unsuccessful, indicating that Aston Martin simply doesn't want to (or perhaps cannot) reveal anything about it yet: "There's a big group of people already working on the 2026 car, pushing forwards. And as we add more people in, we get stronger. Increased capacity and increased experience just help to push us forwards."
As a result, there are still some question marks surrounding the division of roles in Newey’s first weeks. The long-term plan with Cardile and Newey as the two technical leaders seems clear, but with the signing from Ferrari not yet there, the situation remains somewhat uncertain.
What challenges await Newey at Aston Martin?
Just as important as the structure is the question of what Newey will focus on at Aston Martin and what the main challenges are. When the signing was announced, the team acknowledged that his arrival was too late to shape the 2025 car but in time to improve it throughout the season – more importantly, in time for the new regulations, which Aston Martin and owner Lawrence Stroll have pinned all their hopes on. With Newey onboard and Honda as the engine supplier, effectively making it a factory team, all the pieces need to come together to take a major step forward in 2026.
"Everybody's super excited to work with Adrian. His record speaks for itself,” Cowell said. “We're looking forward to welcoming him on site, doing an induction for a new employee. It might be a little bit different than a normal one, introducing him to the key technical players within our business and showing him the business tools for engineering the car. And then getting stuck into creating the 2026 car and helping the improvements on 2025."
The order of Cowell's words highlights where the priority lies. Due to the gap between the top four teams and the rest, and because of the opportunities that the new regulations offer, Aston Martin is expected to shift its focus to 2026 early. The fact that Newey is starting now is particularly crucial, as most teams have already begun concept work for next year.
Cowell explains that Aston Martin’s concept department is already focused on next year: "That's a huge topic for all 10 teams. For us, there are areas of our business that are already 100% focused on 2026. Concept engineering groups are fully focused on 2026 because 2025 is done from their perspective." This refers to the overall concept of the car, an area where Newey's expertise could be an invaluable contribution. In that sense, his first few months are crucially important in laying the foundations for 2026.
The balancing act between 2025 and 2026
While Newey is expected to influence both the 2025 and 2026 projects, it is interesting that Aston Martin wants to separate the two as much as possible according to Cowell, preferring not to have team members working on both projects simultaneously. He said: "I've always found that if you have an engineer thinking about today and 12 months’ time, it's always today that you focus on. It's about four in the afternoon that you start thinking about the next year and your brain is a bit tired by then, or mine is.
"For us, compared with Ferrari, we're a young team. We're a young and growing team. Yes, we've got a great new factory. We've got some great infrastructure but we're still learning how to bring all of that together. We're still dialling that in. It's important to us that we get the quality of the experiments that we do within that infrastructure to be top draw. That's a big focus for us."
All factors - Newey, Honda and the new facilities - must come together in the 2026 car. Cowell has already made it clear that designing it will bring many challenges, not least due to the switch in engine supplier.
"We're transitioning from being a customer team this year with Mercedes to a works team with Honda," Cowell explained. "Besides that, we will be creating our own transmission, rear wishbones and so on. So it is a step up for us. It's a challenging job list in front of us over the next 12 months."
All these aspects are naturally connected to the aerodynamics and mechanics of the 2026 car, making one thing clear: from today, Newey will have plenty to keep him busy in his state-of-the-art office, including the drawing board.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Carlos Sainz tempers expectations amid Williams hype
Next article Lewis Hamilton leaves Toto Wolff's Monaco apartment on rare custom motorcycle
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ronald Vording
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
4 d
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
More from
Aston Martin Racing
FIA reveals latest ADUO results in final review of 2026 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 3 d
FIA reveals latest ADUO results in final review of 2026 F1 season
Honda struggling to explain Lance Stroll’s 13th DNF of the season
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 d
Honda struggling to explain Lance Stroll’s 13th DNF of the season
Latest news
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
12 min
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
IndyCar 2026 season review: Juncos Hollinger Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 15 min
IndyCar 2026 season review: Juncos Hollinger Racing
Indy NXT unveils 15-race 2027 schedule with four doubleheaders
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 20 min
Indy NXT unveils 15-race 2027 schedule with four doubleheaders
Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Why aerodynamics will become "even more important" under 2027 MotoGP regulations
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe