Adrian Newey can save Aston Martin but F1 legend will only get ONE chance

Newey, Stroll, generic, copywright Aston Martin — Photo: © IMAGO

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Newey can save Aston Martin but F1 legend will only get ONE chance

Will Newey turnaround Aston Martin

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Monday 3 March 2025 19:48 Updated: 22:02

A new era begins at Aston Martin as Adrian Newey gets his feet under the desk on what is officially day one of the job - and his arrival couldn't be better timed.

At least for Aston Martin, because sadly for the struggling Formula 1 team all is not well at the start of 2025 after a disruptive pre-season testing hit by illness and a lack of promise from its new AMR25.

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But things have been on the downturn for a while now at the Northamptonshire based team. Since Fernando Alonso's run of six podiums from eight races at the start of 2023, they have hit a tumble and fall just as rapid and painful as Homer Simpson's decline down Springfield Gorge, to the point where even top 10 finishes are major doubts.

The AMR25 is the final Aston Martin F1 car that won't have Newey among its DNA, and while he might have an oversight into the seasonal developments on the machine - it's no secret his mission brief is to make Aston Martin great again (green MAGA hats anyone?) for 2026 when the F1 rules and regulations drastically change and the big reset button is hit for all the teams.

Adrian Newey at McLaren with Mika Hakkinen

Why is Adrian Newey so good?

There are two questions now that everyone wants answered and the good news is we will get those answers in time. The questions are: Will Newey turn Aston Martin into title contenders and if so, how long will it take?

Given Aston Martin could be starting this season as genuinely one of the slowest teams, he can at the very least expect to improve on that in 12 month's time but despite a winner's CV stretching back well over a decade before many of the drivers on the current grid were born, it's not always an overnight success.

At Williams in 1991, it was almost instant as heavy chassis development and innovative modifications took a team on the brink of challenging Ayrton Senna and McLaren to then outright domination by the time 1992 kicked off.

At McLaren, his 1997 arrival saw the team land the drivers' and constructors' championship the following year (the only time the team have achieved the double in 34 years).

However, at Red Bull, where they were still ironing out the Ford/Jaguar creases, his 2006 entrance did not start reaping tangible success until 2009 - although that also came following a dramatic change to the rules and regulations.

The wins started trickling in for Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber that year, but it wasn't until 2010 when the championships followed and four years of Vettel gesturing the iconic pointing finger everywhere every two weeks started.

Fernando Alonso, Lawrence Stroll and Adrian Newey

Will Fernando Alonso win under Adrian Newey?

That's good and bad news for Aston Martin's other mega star in Fernando Alonso. Two world titles is simply not a fair reflection of his ability as a grand prix driver and while at the age of 43 it looks like that final train for a third has long departed, it's crucially not impossible. As long as there is a chance though - and there still is - the Spaniard will not let go.

He will though be 44 years old by the time he gets a chance to drive a Newey car, and Father Time is not kind to elite athletes at this point in their career.

So where does this relate to Newey? He wins everywhere he goes, even at teams with little previous history of doing so beforehand - but that needed a rules revamp. Aston Martin have that for next season and Alonso looks like he could benefit majorly.

Sadly for Alonso, Aston Martin's highly ambitious owner Lawrence Stroll won't stop there and he will be targeting the best drivers of today and for the next few years as a next target. With Red Bull on shaky ground too, it's going to be hard to keep those Max Verstappen rumours at bay...

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

Red Bull Lewis Hamilton Formula 1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey Fernando Alonso