Adrian Newey has been named Aston Martin’s new team principal in a bold move by Lawrence Stroll, just a few months after he joined the team as managing technical partner.
Reports suggest that Newey and Andy Cowell struggled to find common ground, leading to Cowell’s reassignment. He could now be tasked with managing the partnership between Aston Martin and Honda.
While this is Newey’s first role as team principal, his experience speaks for itself. His championship wins with Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull have all come in very different eras of Formula One.
The timing, though, does not seem ideal with major regulation changes just around the corner. Stroll believes this is Aston Martin’s moment to break into F1’s top tier, but internal turmoil could hold them back if it continues into next season.
Ferrari’s reluctance to hire Adrian Newey was justified
Before his move to Aston Martin last year, Newey was once again linked with Ferrari, a team he has often been rumoured to join but never quite finalised a deal with.
At the time, reports suggested that the Briton wanted full control over Ferrari’s sporting operations, something the team was not willing to grant. Shortly after those talks fell through, he acquired shares in Aston Martin.
Ferrari also had concerns that Newey might disrupt their existing structure, a situation that has seemingly played out at Aston Martin.
While Newey’s focus has been on 2026 rather than immediate development for 2025, it remains to be seen whether the Maranello outfIt will regret not bringing him on board or if their decision helped them avoid internal disruption.
Fred Vasseur’s views on Adrian Newey
Fred Vasseur was not in favour of bringing Newey to Ferrari, possibly because he anticipated a power struggle similar to what has happened at Aston Martin. If the 66-year-old had joined, Vasseur might have ended up in a position like Cowell’s.
Instead, Ferrari put Loic Serra in charge of their technical department. He came over from Mercedes and only started last October, so he has not had much time to address issues with the 2025 car.
Some within Ferrari point to Enrico Cardile as the source of those issues. Cardile left for Aston Martin before the SF-25 was finished and is going to report directly to Newey.
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