Newey’s warning: Aston Martin needs to grow in one key area
Aston Martin Managing Technical Partner, Adrin Newey, has opened up about the early stages of his tenure at... The post Newey’s warning: Aston Martin needs to grow in one key area appeared first on F1i.com.
Aston Martin Managing Technical Partner, Adrin Newey, has opened up about the early stages of his tenure at the Silverstone-based outfit, offering both praise and pointed insight into the areas that require immediate attention.
In his first public remarks since taking up his post on March 3, the legendary Formula 1 designer emphasized that while the team has built an impressive infrastructure, success will ultimately come down to people – and to strengthening specific departments.
Newey’s arrival at Aston Martin marked a major coup for team owner Lawrence Stroll’s ambitious project.
However, after showing remarkable promise in early 2023, the team has struggled through a challenging 2025 campaign, with the Miami Grand Prix marking a particularly low point.
Despite the state-of-the-art facilities at their Silverstone headquarters, Aston Martin has fallen behind the front-runners in both performance and consistency.
Formula 1 is about People
In reflecting on the setup he has found at Aston Martin, Newey praised the potential of the operation but was candid about what’s missing.
"Lawrence's vision has created a great facility – the best facility in F1 – but it is important that we now optimise how we use it," Newey said in an interview published on the Aston Martin team’s website.
"Formula 1 is about people. Yes, there is a lot of technology, but it's people who drive things forward.
"My previous team had one of the worst wind tunnels in F1 and operates out of an unremarkable series of buildings on an industrial estate, but it managed to get everybody working together and developed a great group of people.
"We have many talented people – also a few areas that need strengthening with greater numbers – and we need to get everyone working together better, using these tools and developing our abilities."
While the tools and talent are in place, Newey made it clear that cohesion and strategic prioritization will be essential if Aston Martin is to become a title contender by the time the sport’s sweeping new regulations take effect in 2026.
Strengthening Aero and Prioritizing Resources
Newey singled out Team Silverstone’s aerodynamics department as a critical area requiring more personnel to compete at the front of the grid.
With the 2026 regulations introducing a major technical overhaul, the team faces intense pressure to optimize its development path under the constraints of the budget cap and limited staffing.
“It’s always difficult when you have a big regulation change like this and all teams are resource-limited, because of the budget cap and simply because of staffing levels,” Newey explained.
“One area of our team that needs to grow is the aerodynamics department. But in the short term that means we’ve got to decide which directions are going to be the most fruitful and really concentrate our resources on those.”
©AstonMartin
This strategic focus, however, comes with risks. Newey acknowledged the challenge of choosing which development paths to pursue.
“Of course, in doing that, there’s always a danger that we’ve missed an avenue,” he said. “Quite often, you have to go a long way down a certain branch before you know whether it’s going to be a fruitful one or not.”
But with time short, he’s had to make tough calls.
“I never like to say to a fellow engineer that they shouldn’t pursue something, but given the short timescales, in this case, I have to do that,” he admitted, emphasizing the need to prioritize resources to avoid spreading the team too thin.
While Newey’s primary focus is the 2026 car, he’s also lent a hand to the 2025 effort, albeit in a limited capacity.
“Lawrence understandably wants us to do as well as we can in 2025 so there’s a small team still working on this year’s car from an aerodynamics point of view,” he said.
“I’ve had a few lunchtime conversations with that small group, discussing the car and what we can do about it.”
These discussions reflect his pragmatic approach, balancing immediate needs with the long-term goal of positioning Aston Martin as a frontrunner.
With Newey’s expertise and a clear call for a stronger aero unit, Aston Martin is poised for a pivotal transformation – if it can harness its resources and talent effectively.
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The post Newey’s warning: Aston Martin needs to grow in one key area appeared first on F1i.com.
