Adrian Newey Hasn’t Worked On 2025 Aston Martin At All – Cowell

F1 75 Live Press Conference
F1 75 Live - Press Conference Sport, Motorsport, Formula One Racing, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Celebrities LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 18: Andy Cowell, Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team looks on during a press conference prior to F1 75 Live at InterContinental London O2 on February 18, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
F1 75 Live Press Conference
F1 75 Live - Press Conference Sport, Motorsport, Formula One Racing, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Celebrities LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 18: Andy Cowell, Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team looks on during a press conference prior to F1 75 Live at InterContinental London O2 on February 18, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Adrian Newey is yet to work his fabled magic on Aston Martin’s new car for 2025.

In Bahrain pre-season testing recently, the green cars appeared to lack pace – with leading team figures like Fernando Alonso already looking ahead to the all-new era from 2026.

“I think we’ve taken a step forward,” said Alonso in Melbourne, “but it seems like everyone else has done the same thing.”

Team boss Andy Cowell, however, is slightly more upbeat.

“We have a car that we believe is better than last year’s in many ways,” he said. “But, as always, there are always areas to work on.

“We’re definitely not where we’d like to be. There are areas in the corners, areas on the straights, where we’re working to improve the car, some of which we can do here while others require more development work to improve both the aerodynamic and mechanical platforms.”

After a period of ‘gardening leave’, Newey started work at Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory just ten days ago.

“He didn’t want ceremonial presentations – he arrived and went straight into a concept meeting,” said Cowell.

When asked what the former Red Bull guru has been doing since March 3, Cowell continued: “He’s learning the 2026 regulations, understanding them, digging deeper into the work we’ve been doing, understanding that, contributing ideas to the drawing board.”

He freely admits that all of Newey’s efforts so far have been related to the totally-different car for next year.

“I’m smiling to myself,” Cowell is quoted as saying by Marca sports newspaper, “and I won’t give you the details because I don’t want our opponents to know.

“But there are a couple of areas where people are already asking ‘Can we really push it in this direction?’ ‘Can we really do that?’ And the engineers are looking at it and saying ‘Yeah, ok, let’s try that’.

“I think that’s the Adrian effect,” Cowell explained. “He spots the areas where things need to be pushed, and everyone buys into it.”

So with Aston Martin expected to struggle from the outset with its existing car, Cowell is coy when asked if Newey might be able to offer his ideas to make it faster.

“So far, he’s been completely focused on the 2026 car, drawing up the designs for it,” he said.

From F1 news to tech, history to opinions, F1 Chronicle has a free Substack. To deliver the stories you want straight to your inbox, click here.

New to Formula 1? Check out our Glossary of F1 Terms, and our Beginners Guide to Formula 1 to fast-track your F1 knowledge.

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

More in News

250530 Sfhp F1 R09 Spagna Ca R0915023 E47f5afb 8155 4d3f 9b20 0daac660dda8

Lewis Hamilton Asks Ferrari To Focus On 2026 Car

Lewis Hamilton thinks it may be time for Ferrari to ...
Arvid Lindblad

FIA Could Green-Light Arvid Lindblad For F1 Next Week

Arvid Lindblad could be on the Formula 1 grid soon. ...
2025 Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday - Toto Wolff (image courtesy Mercedes)

Angry Taxi Drivers Hit Back At Mercedes’ Toto Wolff

Italian taxi drivers have amusingly returned fire at Mercedes team ...
Was Crashgate A Real Thing? - Piquet Never Intended To 'Harm' Massa

Briatore ‘Never Spoke’ With Piquet About Crashgate

Flavio Briatore has reiterated his innocence some decade and a ...
F1 Grand Prix Of Abu Dhabi Practice

Verstappen Deserved FIA’s Spanish GP Slap – Marko

Dr Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen deserved to be penalised ...

Trending on F1 Chronicle