‘We’re going to get it right next year’ – New tech chief Enrico Cardile on Aston Martin’s 2026 prospects

Aston Martin’s new Chief Technical Officer Enrico Cardile has insisted that the team are “going to get it right next year” – though he stopped short of predicting at what point of the season this could happen.

It was confirmed in July 2024 that Cardile would join the British outfit as part of their technical leadership team in 2025, following his departure from his position as Technical Director Chassis and Aerodynamics at Ferrari.

Now, having commenced his new role, the Italian is focusing his attentions on preparing for the 2026 season, when sweeping new technical regulations will come into effect.

Fernando Alonso recently said he’s “convinced” Aston Martin will succeed in the future – and Cardile echoed those sentiments in an interview on the team’s official website.

“We’re going to get it right next year,” he said. “I just don’t know if we’re going to get it right for the first race, the second, the seventh, or whatever. What we have is commitment, focus, and the confidence that it will be right. We have all we need to do a great job. Failure is not an option.”

When asked for his first thought about the new era, Cardile – who reports both to CEO and Team Principal Andy Cowell and Managing Technical Partner Adrian Newey – responded: “Excitement. Definitely.

“Not just for our car. I’m looking forward to seeing the other 10 cars, to see everyone’s performance, to know if we’re in a good position and have to keep pushing to keep the advantage or if we need to keep pushing to catch teams that are quicker than us. It will be exciting.”

Having previously spent much of his career to date at Ferrari, Cardile explained that both his new and former teams share the same goals – but that while Ferrari has decades of history of winning to draw on, at Aston Martin it’s more about building the team up to compete at the very front of the sport.

“It’s one of the first messages I gave to my team when I started: we need to find our identity and use our vision to shape the organisation so that it works the way we want it to work. It’s fine to take inspiration from other places, but copying the way it has been done elsewhere is not the thing to do,” he said.