Aston Martin told Adrian Newey F1 move 'was never going to work'

Aston Martin F1 team have been handed a no-nonsense verdict over their decision to appoint Adrian Newey as team principal for 2026.

The British engineer is one of the brightest minds to ever grace the pinnacle of motorsport, with his design genius having contributed to 25 title victories across the drivers' and constructors' championship so far.

Throughout his esteemed F1 career, Newey has brought success to Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, but his most recent move to Aston Martin has hardly been plain sailing.

Just three races have passed in the 2026 campaign which also brought about a complete overhaul of the power unit and chassis regulations.

The new rules have slightly reshuffled the competitive order and Aston Martin are currently sat way down in the constructors' championship, joint-last with new squad Cadillac.

The Silverstone outfit's chassis issues and troubles with power unit provider Honda have put an even bigger strain on Newey's first full season with Lawrence Stroll's squad, especially considering he is also expected to juggle his technical role with the new position of team principal.

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton's new career as 'hot drivers' promo slammed

F1 star questions Newey's place at Aston Martin

Aston Martin shocked the paddock at the end of last year when it was announced that on top of getting the AMR26 ready for the sport's new regulations era, Newey would also have to take on the role of team principal.

The immediate exit of Audi F1 boss Jonathan Wheatley then led some to believe Wheatley could be heading to Aston Martin to take over Newey's role, but no such announcement has been made.

Instead, Stroll has opted to leave Newey struggling at the helm of the team in a position that ex-F1 star and pundit David Coulthard has claimed 'was never going to work'.

Speaking in an episode of the Up to Speed podcast last month, Coulthard discussed his experience of working closely with Newey throughout his F1 career, something which he felt made him well-placed to assess the British design guru's strengths.

"He is technically driven. He's a racer. He is a problem solver from a technical point of view," said Coulthard, who worked alongside the Brit both at Williams and McLaren, before convincing Newey to join Red Bull.

"The politics of Formula 1, which is what the team principal has to deal with a lot, and the politics that are sometimes created with the media as well, is not at all... especially at Adrian’s stage of life in his 60s. You know, you'll find as you go through the decades, there's certain things that you're prepared to do, that you're not prepared to do when you get a bit older because you've less runway ahead than behind," he continued.

But the Scotsman then questioned whether Newey was ever really suitable to hold the role of team principal with Aston Martin, temporary or otherwise.

"I never saw that as a long-term play so I'm curious beyond the statement we saw from Lawrence Stroll where he was reaffirming the fact that Adrian's a partner in the team.

"He's got a shareholding and they're going forward together with the original plan. I think it's just a readdressing of what was a short-term and actually what's turned out to be a bit of a PR own goal because it created a scenario of questioning from the majority of people who were thinking, does that really work?

"And now it's kind of like, well, as we thought, that was never going to work."

READ MORE: Alonso opens up on 'difficult' retirement decision

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography