‘Adrian is an amazing individual’ – Andy Cowell on Adrian Newey’s Aston Martin impact and gearing up for 2026

Four-and-a-half months ago, Adrian Newey walked into Aston Martin’s state-of-the-art Formula 1 facility in Silverstone, sharpened his pencil and started scribbling ideas on the giant drawing board pitched in his shiny new office.

Since then, the 66-year-old has barely left that room, aside from a first trackside visit with his new team in Monaco, a follow-up visit at Silverstone over the road from the factory and a handful of days off. When he’s in there, he frequently enters what he describes as a “design trance” where he is fully emersed in his own world and unaware of what is going on around him.

It’s a tried and tested approach over decades that has – along with his legend as the greatest designer of all time – further energised the British team trying to build themselves into a team capable of fighting at the sharp end of the field – and generated an incredible buzz.

“Adrian is an amazing individual,” says Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Andy Cowell, as we chat in the summer sunshine. “He’s got great experience but the thing he loves is being at the drawing board thinking about the design of a racing car.

“And it’s not just one part on the racing car, it’s the whole system and so since March, he’s spent hour after hour after hour at his drawing board just thinking about suspension concepts, the monocoque, where to put the engine, how to position the driver – all those detail architectural aspects of the racecar.

“He’s adventurous, he’s creative and adventurous and he pushes the boundaries and so everybody’s got less volume to fit more components in and that inspires the engineers. They look at it initially and go how am I going to do that? But they are finding ways and Adrian helps with that.

“He doesn’t just give a problem. He helps giving detailed solutions as well and the whole supply chain, in there in the factory, is enjoying working on that.

“From an idea on Adrian’s drawing board to then having it running in the wind tunnel requires the model designers to create the parts and manufacturing and suppliers and bringing it all together and making sure it’s a high-quality model in the wind tunnel. So we’re doing that quicker than we’ve ever done before which is exciting.”

‘He pushes the boundaries’

As you’d expect from Newey, he’s pushing the envelope with his design. Cowell describes his approach as “adventurous” and that is pushing the technical team to reach new levels to make it work.

“Having Adrian join us since March, firing up the drawing board, and the machine that is required downstream of that, has just added some extra impetus to what we’re doing for ’26,” adds Cowell.

“[Ahead of the British Grand Prix] we had both Fernando [Alonso] and Lance [Stroll] in the wind tunnel section with the model and Adrian. Adrian was talking about the features on the model. He pushes the boundaries.

“He packages ten things into the space where only one would normally fit, and all the engineers see that as a challenge. It’s not just the engineers, it’s the whole group of people within the aerodynamics development area.

“The pace with which we’re creating changes on the ’26 wind tunnel model is quicker than we’ve ever done before. It really is very impressive. It is like watching 100 people all run 100 metres sub-ten seconds, with perfect baton passes.

“It’s very exciting to see and all of that is enabled by having the facilities, and the people and the methods. So yeah, it’s an exciting journey into ’26.”

Looking ahead to 2026

Bar a few lunchtime chats with his colleagues about the 2025 car, Newey’s full focus has been on 2026, when his first Aston Martin will be built to sweeping new aerodynamic rules and fitted with a works Honda power unit that will run 100% sustainable fuel.

And from Silverstone onwards, the team’s complete development focus will be on next year. Their update at the British Grand Prix will be their last for this year, despite them sitting down in eighth in the Teams’ Championship on 36 points.

The team know how much of an opportunity 2026 gives them to make a leap up the order. But they also know how much of a challenge it is given how much change they are going through.

Next year, they will go from customer to works team for the first time, with Honda coming on-board as their power unit supplier, while the squad will also do their own gearbox and suspension rather than buy-in from Mercedes.

“It is a transformation going from a customer team to a works team at the same time as all the regulation changes and the new factory and all the new equipment,” says Cowell. “It’s a huge transformation for everybody in our team.

“But I’m really impressed with the enthusiasm that everybody’s got. Everybody wants to get to the front. Everybody wants to do well. Everybody’s open-minded to making changes in the way we work in responsibilities and so on. Everybody’s busy, everybody’s making lots of change, but it’s enjoyable change.”

It took some time, but Honda eventually made it to the top of the pile in terms of power unit competitiveness on their last return to F1 when they triumphed with Red Bull. Having reversed the decision to leave the sport and instead partner up with Aston Martin, the Japanese manufacturer have been ramping their operation back up.

It’s going to be a challenge to hit the ground running, as they lost crucial development time when they pulled out and then returned to the sport – while it always takes time to build a new relationship with a new partner. But they can take a lot of confidence from the way they persevered and delivered with Red Bull.

“The works been going on for many, many months so the design of the Honda power unit is very much fitting hand in glove with the back of our monocoque and the front of our transmission,” says Cowell.

“The hardware has been tested in Sakura (Honda’s power unit base in Japan) and our transmission has been tested here at Silverstone as well as on the back of the power unit in Sakura.

“There are daily meetings and then there are regular more senior level meetings to check in to make sure that we’re all working in the right direction.”

Aston Martin’s driver pairing

One thing that will be stable for Aston Martin is driver line-up. Double world champion Alonso is signed up for what will be his fourth season with the team while Stroll, son of owner Lawrence, is set for his eighth campaign with the Silverstone squad.

Alonso may be turning 44 mid-way through next season, but he is showing no signs of slowing up. The Spaniard is on a run of four successive points scores and continuing to prove he has what it takes to get the maximum – and more – out of a race car.

“Fernando is one of those amazing drivers,” says Cowell. “He’s got great experience. His race craft is tremendous but also his vision for where we should be going is incredible.

“He is looking at every little bit of detail of the car. He isn’t just thinking about how the car felt to him in a session or in a race so he’s a he’s an exciting individual to have in the team.”

Stroll started the campaign strongly with two points scores, followed that up with a fifth in the Miami Sprint but then didn’t score until last time out at Silverstone – where he ran in the podium positions at one stage – and withdrew from the Spanish Grand Prix because of pain in his wrist.

“Lance is really enthusiastic about the future of the team and next year so we’re really pleased that he is also signed with us for next year,” says Cowell.

“And when you look at the points, fortune was going with him at the start of the year and has perhaps dropped away a little bit but he’s pushing hard.

“In the last couple of events, he’s shown the performance but then, bad luck in Qualifying with red flags and so on has stopped him from from pushing forwards.”

Aston currently sit eighth in the Teams’ Championship, five points behind Sauber in sixth. They’ve far from given up on this year – and will hope that by understanding better how to get the most out of their package in recent races, they can move up the standings.

But, of course, much of their hope rests on Newey steering them in the right next direction next season – and the whole team gelling together to deliver on the opportunity.