Aston Martin F1 wants strengthening in a single key space, says Adrian Newey

Aston Martin tech chief Adrian Newey says he has been buoyed by the group he has encountered in Silverstone, however feels the squad’s aero division should develop in numbers to grasp its potential.

Former Williams, McLaren and Crimson Bull designer Newey formally began at Aston Martin on March 3 within the newly created position of Managing Technical Accomplice, with a eager deal with getting the Lawrence Stroll owned group in the very best place initially of the 2026 laws cycle.

Following a quick interval within the limelight initially of 2023, Aston Martin has regularly been shuffled again into the pack and has endured a dismal season thus far, with the newest Miami Grand Prix as its lowest ebb.

Aston Martin’s on-track fortunes up to now in 2025 are contrasting starkly with Stroll’s sky-high ambitions, with Newey amongst many elite degree recruits employed in current months and years to function from Aston’s state-of-the-art Silverstone headquarters.

Talking for the primary time since he picked up his designer pencil at his shiny new glass-walled workplace, Newey says he has been inspired by the dynamic he has discovered at Silverstone. However he acknowledged that whereas the group has obtained all the most recent and biggest {hardware}, it nonetheless wants extra power in depth to compete on the sharp finish of F1.

“Lawrence’s imaginative and prescient has created an ideal facility – the most effective facility in F1 – however it is crucial that we now optimise how we use it,” Newey was quoted as saying by Aston Martin. “F1 is about individuals. Sure, there’s lots of expertise, but it surely’s individuals who drive issues ahead.

“My earlier group had one of many worst wind tunnels in F1 and operates out of an unremarkable collection of buildings on an industrial property, but it surely managed to get all people working collectively and developed an ideal group of individuals.

“We have now many gifted individuals – additionally just a few areas that want strengthening with higher numbers – and we have to get everybody working collectively higher, utilizing these instruments and growing our skills.”

One key space for change

Newey pinpointed the group’s aero division as one space that would profit from bolstering its ranks and defined what impression the present headcount has on growing the 2026 automobile.

“It is at all times troublesome when you have got an enormous regulation change like this and all groups are resource-limited, due to the funds cap and easily due to staffing ranges,” he defined.

“One space of our group that should develop is the aerodynamics division. However within the quick time period which means we have to resolve which instructions are going to be probably the most fruitful and actually focus our assets on these.

“In fact, in doing that, there’s at all times a hazard that we have missed an avenue. Very often, you must go a great distance down a sure department earlier than you understand whether or not it may be a fruitful one or not.

“I by no means prefer to say to a fellow engineer that they should not pursue one thing, however given the quick timescales, on this case, I’ve to do this.”

Newey additionally detailed his restricted involvement in turning across the group’s dwindling 2025 fortunes. 

“Lawrence understandably needs us to do in addition to we will in 2025 so there is a small group nonetheless engaged on this 12 months’s automobile from an aerodynamics perspective,” he added. “I’ve had just a few lunchtime conversations with that small group, discussing the automobile and what we will do about it.”