F1 News: Adrian Newey's wife takes down Aston Martin critic with savage one-word response

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey's wife takes down Aston Martin critic with savage one-word response

A mic drop moment from Amanda

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Tuesday 25 August 2026 12:27

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Adrian Newey's wife had the perfect one-word response when Spanish F1 insider Antonio Lobato criticised the Aston Martin car her husband designed.

The 67-year-old design genius came in for heavy criticism for the first 10 races of 2026 with the team reduced to a laughing stock thanks to Honda power unit issues and chassis challenges.

The tide turned though when Newey brought a massive package of upgrades (16 in total) at the Hungarian Grand Prix, resulting in significant improvement in lap time and Fernando Alonso actually making it out of Q1.

Article continues under video

The turnaround continued in Zandvoort at the weekend with Alonso able to bring the AMR26 home in P9 for two precious championship points, despite the driveability issues from a newly upgraded Honda engine.

Fernando himself described the jump in performance as 'incredible', noting the gap to the best is now only around 1.3 seconds rather than the previous 4 seconds.

Alonso claimed a superb P9 in Zandvoort.

DAZN insider critical of Newey car

Afterwards Newey and Alonso exchanged heartfelt team radio messages which summed up the new vibe surrounding the team as they emerge from a 2026 nightmare. But not everybody was feeling it.

Lobato, F1 commentator for DAZN in Spain and for a long time seen as a close Alonso confidant, claimed differently in a video interview with local outlet SoyMotor.

In a somewhat surprising claim, he began: "That Aston Martin is still almost the worst at everything, except(ing) Cadillac, but on the straights it is the worst car; it was the worst car in Zandvoort, the slowest.

"In high-speed corners I think it was second from the bottom, in slow corners it was third from the bottom, and in medium-speed corners it was the worst."

'The lack of top speed is not just an engine problem

Lobato claimed that while there are clearly still issues to be solved with that problematic Honda power unit, they are not the only issues.

"(...) spoken a lot with the engineer, with Toni Cuquerella, eh, the lack of top speed of the car is not just an engine problem, eh.

"It’s also a bit the aerodynamic drag. In other words, that car is also slow aerodynamically speaking."

'Antonio who?'

Not everybody was impressed by Lobato's take, with Newey's wife Amanda one of the many to respond when a Spanish journalist shared the video on social media.

Her response was beautiful in its savagery, the perfect takedown. One simple word, one brutal question.

"Who?"

Now Newey and Aston Martin will move on to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix on September 6 with the sport's foremost designer already having promised more upgrades.

F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey