Aston Martin F1: Adrian Newey regret revealed by former boss

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey Aston Martin regret revealed

Adrian Newey has an almighty battle to fix the 2026 Aston Martin car

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 19 April 2026 21:15

Adrian Newey may be regretting his role as Aston Martin team principal according to a former F1 boss.

The design legend was brought on as Aston Martin's chief designer and managing technical partner back in March 2025, but it was also announced last November that Newey would be replacing Andy Cowell as their team principal.

Newey's first year in the role, however, couldn't have gone much worse. Not only is the Aston Martin slow, but the Honda power unit is also deficient and vibrations render completing a full grand prix distance a far off fantasy, with much to fix technically alongside completing the duties of a team principal.

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Following the news that Jonathan Wheatley - Newey's former Red Bull colleague - would be leaving Audi as their team principal, reports suggest the Brit is seeking a leadership role at Aston Martin.

If Aston Martin do sign Wheatley, then it could offer some support for Newey; much like McLaren's future lineup with Gianpiero Lambiase being hired to prop up team principal at Andrea Stella.

Steiner: Team principal role not Newey's strength

Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner assessed Newey in the role of team principal and suggested that the designer may be starting to regret his decision.

"If you were to ask Adrian, he would say ‘I don’t know why I did this or why I agreed to this'," Steiner said.

"That is not where his strengths is, he is very good at doing what he is doing which is designing cars, although obviously not the Aston Martin at the moment, but he will fix it.

"For him going in there it was like why the hell, I think it was an Adrian thing ‘I need to be team principal’ without knowing what being team principal actually means and therefore it hasn’t lasted long.

"It shows, you should always put people where their strengths are, never over promote them."

F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey Guenther Steiner