Aston Martin‘s chief engineer, Adrian Newey, has given his first interview since joining the team in March and has given a glimmer of hope for Fernando Alonso‘s current season, assuring that there is still a team dedicated to the current car and that he himself is overseeing some aspects for improvement.
Adrian Newey and the AMR25
Aston Martin started the season fighting not to be the last car on the grid, which led the team’s boss, Lawrence Stroll, to take drastic measures to reverse the team’s unfortunate situation. Adrian Newey arrived in March and said he was “focused solely on 2026,” but the truth was, as was to be expected, that he had one eye on the AMR25 because, even though the regulations will be different, there is a lot of track data to compare with the factory’s new tools, such as the wind tunnel, and the engineer had to be aware of this.
Adrian Newey explains that there is a working group focused on the aerodynamics for 2025, and that it is contributing to improvements for the current season.
“It’s understandable that Lawrence wants us to do as well as possible in 2025, so there’s a small team still working on this year’s car from an aerodynamic point of view. “I’ve had a few conversations over lunch with that small group, talking about the car and what we can do about it.
“I’ve also spoken extensively with Lance and Fernando to get their opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of the current car, the correlation between the current car and the driver simulator on the circuit, etc. The drivers are an essential part of the feedback loop on how the engineering organization is modified and how tasks are approached.”
Newey’s goal for 2026
It is true that Adrian Newey‘s work is focused on 2026, when the team will be looking to make a leap forward in the F1 World Championship to be among the best. He explained that it is not an easy challenge, but that as he gets to know the regulations better, there is a lot of room to squeeze more out of the car and build a car that can fight with the best, but time is tight. This coming weekend will be his first GP on track, in Monaco, to observe the behavior of the AMR25 and gather data for next season.
“The deadlines we have in modern F1 seem to be much earlier than they were 20 years ago, and there are a lot of deadlines coming up for the 2026 car, which is where I’ve been focused, so I haven’t been on the track. I plan to be in Monaco… with my notebook.”
He explains that rule changes are always a challenge and that, little by little, the puzzle is being solved:
“My thoughts on the 2026 regulations are similar to those I had on the big regulatory change in 2022: at first, I thought the rules were so prescriptive that there wasn’t much (design) leeway, but then you start digging into the details and you realize that there’s more flexibility for innovation and different approaches than it seems at first glance.”
“I think there’s a high probability that in 2026 we’ll see something similar to 2022. There’s enough flexibility in the regulations, and I’m sure the teams will find different solutions.”
Optimism with Honda
Adrian Newey is optimistic about the partnership with Honda and believes that the working method being implemented could prove very successful, although there is also a certain respect for getting things right.
“For the first time in my memory, we have both the chassis and powertrain regulations changing at the same time. This is interesting and a little scary. Both the new aerodynamic rules and the engine rules present opportunities.”
“Next year marks the start of our factory partnership with Honda. I have a lot of confidence in Honda and enormous respect for them, having worked with them before. They took a year out of F1 and, in a sense, they are catching up, but they are a great group of engineers and a very engineering-focused company.”
“I expect to see a variety of aerodynamic solutions and there could be differences in engine performance at the beginning, as was the case when the hybrid regulations were introduced in 2014,” he concluded.