Honda blamed for Adrian Newey F1 retirement U-turn: 'He was going to design yachts'

Adrian Newey

Honda blamed for Adrian Newey F1 retirement U-turn: 'He was going to design yachts'

Adrian Newey left Red Bull in 2024

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 10 April 2026 13:54

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An F1 insider has revealed that Honda brought design legend Adrian Newey back from a potential retirement from the sport.

Newey is largely regarded as one of the greatest car designers of all time, with his designs claiming 26 world championship titles across his illustrious career in the sport.

Those titles have come with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, while he has also worked for Leyton House and, now, Aston Martin.

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67-year-old Newey joined Aston Martin back in March 2025, and is being tasked with trying to turn the Silverstone-based outfit into a championship-contending team.

It means that the Brit is working with Honda once more, with the Japanese car manufacturers powering the Aston Martin cars from this year onwards.

Now, respected F1 journalist Mark Hughes has revealed that the last time Newey worked with Honda - at Red Bull from 2019 after they had ditched their Renault partnership - they had encouraged him to stick around in the sport, with the Brit having been close to retiring and instead focusing on other projects.

"In fact, Adrian had said he was finished, and he was going to go and design yachts," Hughes told the Undercut podcast. "But it was only the switch from Renault to Honda [at Red Bull], which brought them back in, he thought, 'oh no, these guys are properly serious. These guys are properly competitive', and that's what brought him back.

"There's been speculation that this has been too damaging for the relationship to recover. I don't think that's the case. It's just, Formula 1 is quite brutal sometimes, isn't it?"

Honda-Newey reunion not going to plan

With Newey now back working with Honda power units, there was a lot of expectation on the Aston Martin team, particularly with new regulations sweeping into the sport this year.

But that has certainly not gone to plan. Honda have had reliability and power output issues with their 2026 power unit, while Newey's AMR26 chassis is by no means perfect either.

It has culminated in just one grand prix finish for the team so far, with Fernando Alonso reaching the chequered flag at the Japanese Grand Prix, while world championship points seem highly unlikely at this stage.

Newey initially joined Aston Martin as managing technical partner, but has since taken on team principal duties too. Time will tell as to whether the Brit continues on in the dual role, or Aston Martin opt to sign a full-time team principal so Newey can focus on car design and performance.

F1 Red Bull Aston Martin Adrian Newey Honda