Aston Martin has started using its new state-of-the-art Formula 1 wind tunnel which could prove to be a game changer for the midfield outfit.

The effects of moving into a new wind tunnel can be profound on an F1 team.

For instance, McLaren moved into its wind tunnel in October 2023 and was unique among the 10 F1 teams last year in that it practically had no correlation issues between aerodynamic testing and on-track results en route to a Constructors’ title.

That was an issue for Aston Martin last year and the team will be hoping its new wind tunnel will benefit the development of the AMR25, although its primary function will be in aiding the creation of next year’s car, which it hopes will challenge for championships.

Moreover, Aston Martin now becomes the technology leader in the wind tunnel space.

The team revealed that “the wind tunnel is housed in a 60,580m3 building that also includes the state-of-the-art additive manufacturing machines and model build area for the new highly sophisticated 60 per cent scale car models enabling rapid development and better operational efficiencies.”

Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Andy Cowell said: “Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the creation of our own wind tunnel facility at the AMRTC.

“The task of bringing together external partners and new in-house technology working hand in glove to such tight deadlines is impressive.

“The facility provides new technology that enables the aerodynamicists to observe in greater detail the complex flow physics of an F1 car. 

“To have everything here under one roof is extremely beneficial for us as we work towards being a fully operational works team from 2026.”

In-house F1 wind tunnel will improve Aston Martin efficiency

Before Thursday’s announcement, Aston Martin used the Mercedes wind tunnel in nearby Brackley, just a short drive from its Silverstone base, but having its new facility on site will greatly improve efficiency.

Cowell spoke of the importance of bringing everything in house and how that will impact efficiency and understanding for Aston Martin.

“It’s been a big project,” he said. “Lots of people working on it, so it’s great to see it’s now our nominated wind tunnel and doing development work and it’s got some great technology in it, great technology in the measurement systems and within the model that goes within the tunnel. 

“And just having everything together in one location, the aerodynamicists don’t even need to put a coat on to go to the wind tunnel, they just walk through, whereas before it was loading the model into a van and down a bumpy dual carriageway and hoping it was still in the same condition when you took it out the van at the other end. 

“So from an efficiency but also the challenge that everybody has of trying to understand what goes on with the aerodynamics on track compared with a wind tunnel, compared with CFD, those three worlds that the aerodynamicists battle with, we believe that this new wind tunnel gives us greater understanding, greater mechanisms for understanding the flow physics of the streams going over the car.”

READ MORE – Aston Martin reveals how it is already benefitting from the Adrian Newey effect

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Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Andy Cowell has revealed the Silverstone-based Formula 1 squad is already benefitting from the Adrian Newey effect.

Newey set up office at Aston Martin’s Silverstone campus on March 3 in his new role as Managing Technical Partner.

Aston Martin is hedging its bets that Newey’s design genius will pay dividends as he’s been set to work pushing development of the team’s 2026 challenger. 

Despite only being at the team for just 10 days, Cowell told select media including Motorsport Week ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that Newey is having a profound impact.

“Adrian’s been with us for 10 days now, I think, his first day was very low key,” Cowell began. 

“He’s an engineer, he’s walked in, he’s picking up the 2026 regulations, understanding those regulations, getting into the detail of the work that we’ve been doing, understanding that, contributing to ideas, [using] the drawing board. 

“I guess drawing boards don’t need firing up, do they? They don’t need plugging in, they just work and it’s a joy to work with Adrian.”

Cowell revels in Newey’s ‘vast’ F1 experience

Newey has been designing championship-winning F1 cars for over three decades and his knowledge has been a boon at Aston Martin.

More so than that, but Newey has already pinpointed areas where Aston Martin can improve development of its 2026 machine.

“His experience is vast, his hunger is huge,” Cowell said of his new colleague. 

“And it’s just wonderful conversations about making fast race cars and the compromises that you have to make, the trade offs that you need to make, and building up good working relationships with the engineers that have been pushing the concept to date. 

“There’s already a few areas, I’m smiling to myself, I won’t give you the detail, because I don’t want our opponents to know, but you know, there’s a couple of areas where already he’s saying, ‘can we just push that in this direction? Can we just do that?’ 

“And engineers, you know, mechanical engineers, composite engineers, are looking at it and going,’ yeah, okay, we’ll have a go’ and I think that’s the Adrian effect. 

“He picks up on the areas where you should push them and everybody’s just embracing it.”

How Newey’s work is integrating at Aston Martin

Aston Martin has pinpointed 2026 as its opportunity to elevate its standing to the front of the F1 field.

The regulations next year are changing across powertrains, aerodynamics, chassis and tyres, which poses the opportunity for any of the 10 teams to capitalise.

Newey enacted a similar turn of fortune at Red Bull after a dramatic rule change between the 2008 and ‘09 seasons that prompted a prosperous run for his former employer.

Such is Aston’s focus on 2026, Cowell revealed that “So far, [Newey’s] focus has been entirely on the 26 car, busy drawing layouts on the 26 car.” 

Another important part of Newey’s work at Aston Martin is his famous drawing board method.

Newey is famed for hand-drawing his F1 design concepts, holding on to what some may call an antiquated technique given CAD (Computer Aided Design) has ruled the roost for decades now.

But as Cowell explained, whatever the method, the importance is communicating ideas so that they can be produced.

“I guess it’s whether it’s a drawing board, whether it’s CAD, it’s taking creative 3D thoughts that are in your head, and communicating it to colleagues,” Cowell said. 

“We all know how to read drawings. The screen’s 2D in CAD, although you can rotate to observe in 3D. 

“Adrian’s drawing prowess is such that he draws sections so that you can see it in 3D and the world of aerodynamics works with pure aerodynamicists and also people that create 3D surfaces. 

“So they’re experts in creating beautiful surfaces in the world of 3D. It’s just bringing all of that together and it’s having the flexibility to work with different media to download the creative thoughts in a human brain and collaborate together. 

“It’s a big team of people. The aerodevelopment world isn’t one person. It’s this group of people communicating.”

READ MORE – Fernando Alonso: Adrian Newey ‘impact’ at Aston to be greater than Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

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Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso believes that teams in Formula 1 have reached the limit with the current rules whereby they risk encountering drivability issues by chasing downforce gains.

2025 is the final year of the current rules cycle, but teams already had trouble up and down the grid developing cars last year.

One case was Red Bull, which started the year with the strongest package, but in an effort to upgrade its RB20, encountered a world of pain with balance issues.

Aston Martin was another team that struggled massively with development in 2024, having started the season clipping at the heels of the top teams.

But an upgrade delivered at Imola hampered the AMR24 with drivability issues and sent Aston Martin tumbling down a season-long road of development issues and performance concerns.

Alonso admits that trying to add further downforce measures on this year’s AMR25 runs the risk of drivability issues, but hints to the fact Aston Martin has the tools in place to implement upgrades successfully.

“I think we arrived at a point in the development of the car that is quite tricky to add downforce without adding some difficulty on driving the car,” the Spaniard told select media including Motorsport Week. 

“But we are quite okay with the correlation and things.”

No doubt Aston Martin will benefit from its new state-of-the-art wind tunnel that will help combat correlation issues down the road.

Adrian Newey explains limitations of current F1 rules

F1’s present ground effect era differs from the technical revolution imposed on the sport in the late 1970s and early 80s, whereby skirts effectively sealed the underside of the car to create the desired negative pressure to add downforce.

Before starting life at Aston Martin as Managing Technical Partner, Adrian Newey explained to Auto Motor und Sport why the current ground effect rules have limitations.

The legendary designer said “It’s in the nature of things. A ground-effect car without side-sealing skirts like in the 80s will always be prone to instability. 

“You’re looking for more and more vacuum under the car, but you’re always struggling with leakage from the side,” he added.

“This generates downforce losses here and there, which are all the greater the lower your car sits.”

Aston Martin making progress after dismal 2024

Aston Martin’s development headaches in 2024 led to a series of painful lessons from race to race as the Silverstone-based outfit gained more and more data on what wasn’t working.

After two days of pre-season testing, Alonso acknowledged that those lessons are starting to pay dividends as the Spaniard noted improvement on the AMR25.

“I think we have some positives in the car,” he said.

“We’re not going into the details but obviously the data and the correlation seems good and there is a step forward compared to last year’s car.

“And there are some negatives as well, like probably all the things that we need to fix and get better for Australia for later in the season. 

“So, we are relatively happy knowing that it’s extremely tight in the midfield and we will have to do perfect weekends if we want to score points. 

“But this maybe was not a surprise and we will try to get better throughout the season.”

READ MORE – Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin ‘aligned’ on how to avoid ‘painful’ 2026 F1 campaign

The post Fernando Alonso highlights development obstacle Aston Martin is aiming to avoid appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Andy Cowell has been “impressed” by the outfit’s incoming Formula 1 engine partner Honda, calling the Japanese marque “hugely capable”.

Cowell is somewhat of an expert in F1’s hybrid era, as he was top dog over the Mercedes High Performance Powertrains division from 2013 through June 2020. 

During this period, the silver arrows enjoyed absolute dominance from a class-leading power unit, winning seven world championship doubles.

In his new roles at Aston Martin as CEO and Team Principal, Cowell is taking charge of an outfit transitioning from a Mercedes powertrain customer in the present, to a works team in 2026 courtesy of new engine partner Honda. 

Despite Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) president Koji Watanabe recently telling PlanetF1 that 2026 powertrain development is proving “very difficult,” Cowell has hailed the Japanese marque’s strong track record.

“Honda is hugely capable when we look at the number of wins they’ve had, the number of championships they’ve won in the last few years,” Cowell told select media including Motorsport Week. 

“The Honda powertrain has won more than the Mercedes powertrain in the last few years, and so hats off to them.”

Indeed, Honda has powered Max Verstappen to all four of his Drivers’ titles despite taking a tentative step back from F1 at the end of 2021 to merely support Red Bull in operating its power unit.

Cowell ‘impressed’ by Honda’s ambition

Cowell revealed that he has visited Honda in Japan and had nothing but praise for the work he has seen so far.

Given his experience at Mercedes HPP, Cowell believes he will be a key component in communicating between the Honda camp and the wider Aston Martin team to ensure harmony and “efficiency” along with integrating fuel supplier Aramco and lubricants partner Valvoline.

“I’ve visited [the Honda] factory,” said Cowell. 

“I’m nothing but impressed with the group of people there, their ambition, their creativity, their push, their sense of humour, the facilities they’ve got. 

“It’s very, very impressive. The same with Aramco and Valvoline. 

“So I’m aware of the journey that they’re going through, so I can have empathy and therefore support for what they’re doing. And I can help make sure that the team of engineers at Silverstone work hand in glove with the team of engineers at Sakura, and I’m learning more day by day about the environment of creating a race car. 

“And I guess that, coupled with my experience from the power unit, hopefully I can bring the teams together well and explain from each other’s shoes what’s going on in their head when a power unit engineer says, ‘yeah, but what about this?’ I can understand and explain that. 

“And as a collective, we’re chasing the creation of a really efficient racing car, aerodynamically efficient, power unit efficient. 

“Every single system, if you chase efficiency, typically the stopwatch says that you’ve done well. 

“So that’s what we’re doing as a team and as an organisation in every single department.”

A ‘challenging’ 12 months ahead for Aston Martin and Honda

The next 12 months for Aston Martin and Honda will prove to be critical as the former transitions into a works team and the latter works on homologating its 2026 powertrain.

The regulations next season mean the hybrid powertrains will dispense of the MGU-H, introduce sustainable fuels and see an increased electrical power output making up for almost half of the projected 1000 BHP from the entire hybrid system.

The changes are such that HRC’s Tetushi Kakuda told Autosport “We are aiming to submit the homologation in February next year – since we had a slightly late start, we want to push forward until the very last moment.”

Moreover, Cowell revealed that taking everything in house at Aston Martin has unveiled a long list of tasks from merely being a customer outfit.

“I think our situation for next year, we’re transitioning from being a customer team this year with Mercedes powertrain to a works team with Honda, with Aramco fuels and Valvoline lubricants, and creating our own transmission and rear wishbones and so on,” he explained.

“It is a step up for us. It’s a challenging jobs list in front of us over the next 12 months.”

READ MORE – Honda spoke with ‘several F1 teams’ before striking Aston Martin engine partnership

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Fernando Alonso believes everyone at Aston Martin is “aligned” on when and how to focus on the 2026 rule changes to avoid a “painful” Formula 1 campaign next year.

In 2026, F1 is undergoing a major shake-up with changes to the chassis, aerodynamics, engines and tyres.

For a team like Aston Martin, which has experienced stagnation developing under the current ruleset, 2026 represents a massive opportunity to launch itself to the front of the grid.

In order to do this, Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll has assembled a series of components geared towards success including a Honda works engine deal (starting next year), a state-of-the-art wind tunnel plus the services of Andy Cowell and Adrian Newey.

Speaking to select media including Motorsport Week during pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, Alonso revealed that unless Aston Martin is in the hunt for a championship this season, it makes sense to switch focus early on developing a car for 2026.

“I think we are all aligned on this,” he said. 

“We want to do the best 2025 possible, but knowing that 2026 is a big reset in terms of regulations and performance. 

“If you are fighting for the World Championship in 2025, it’s a different story, you cannot give up too much because you don’t know, there is no guarantee that you will fight in ‘26.

“So, you need to take what you can take. But if you are not fighting for the World Championship in 2025, I think it doesn’t change too much to be in one position up and down. 

“If that costs something for 2026, that will be painful.

“But I think we have the right management, we have the vision of Lawrence, we have Andy, we have Adrian. 

“So, I think we have the best people to make whatever decision and we will agree and we will be happy with that.”

Aston Martin has a big task transitioning into a works team

Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Cowell holds a similar opinion to Alonso with regards to switching from 2025 to 2026 development.

“Yeah, that’s a huge topic for all 10 teams,” he said.

“For us, there are areas of our business that are already 100% focused on 2026. 

“So concept engineering groups are just focused on 2026 because 2025’s done from their perspective.

“As we go through the year, every single department will do that transition from partially on 2025 to fully on to 2026, with the majority of the engineers that are here, the race team, the last ones to transition across.”

Cowell added that if the team were to be contenders from the get-go, that would drive Aston Martin’s development path.

“You know, if you get a 1-2 in the first race, you’re going to be chasing another 23 of those to try and win the championship,” he explained.

“And just depending on where you are in the pecking order depends [on] what you do.”

However, it’s not just developing a car to capitalise on the new rules that is important for Aston Martin.

Switching from a Mercedes customer team to a works outfit in partnership with Honda adds a longer list of items that need to be created in-house at Aston Martin in time for next season.

“I think our situation for next year, we’re transitioning from being a customer team this year with Mercedes powertrain to a works team with Honda, with Aramco fuels and Valvoline lubricants, and creating our own transmission and rear wishbones and so on,” Cowell explained.

“It is a step up for us. It’s a challenging jobs list in front of us over the next 12 months. 

“We’re striving to do really well at it in every area.”

READ MORE – Fernando Alonso: McLaren F1 turnaround an ‘example’ for Aston Martin to pursue

The post Fernando Alonso: Aston Martin ‘aligned’ on how to avoid ‘painful’ 2026 F1 campaign appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Andy Cowell doesn’t think the 2026 changes to the Formula 1 engine regulations will shake up the series in a similar fashion to the introduction of hybrid power units in 2014.

Cowell knows the impact of the 2014 hybrid power units well, given he resided as Managing Director of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) at the time.

In that position at Mercedes HPP, Cowell resided over an era of dominance by the Silver Arrows, propelling the team to eight successive Constructors’ titles from 2014 through 2021.

Now in charge of Aston Martin, Cowell doesn’t think a similar impact will be made to the pecking order by the engines changing next year.

That’s because the power unit changes are an evolution, not a revolution, whereby the current engines will be retained, with the absence of the MGU-H, the introduction of sustainable fuels and increased electrification.

Instead, Cowell believes the shakeup will come as a result of multiple changes across the entirety of the F1 regulations for 2026.

“Whenever there’s a regulation change, there’s the opportunity to do better than the others,” Cowell told select media including Motorsport Week.

“It’s somewhat of a reset. However, the change from 2013 to 2014 in regulation set on the propulsion unit was quite dramatic, going from naturally aspirated to direct injected, turbocharged, MGU-H battery, MGU-K that had to work, otherwise you were nowhere.

“Whereas 2025 to 2026 is take the H out, more complex from a turbo lag, bigger battery, bigger motor, less fuel flow, big challenge on the fuel. 

“I’m not sure it’s quite such a dramatic change. It’s an adaptation of what’s been raced today.

“Maybe that’s understating it a little bit. But I guess the challenge is that there are aerodynamics regulation changes as well as power unit, as well as tyres. 

“And so all of that together, all those differences when you add them up could well spread the field more.”

Debating the impact of the 2026 power units

The nature of the 2026 rule changes and the timeline in which they were implemented could have some implications on how the cars and the pecking order they establish plays out.

The power unit regulations were the first to be solidified and amid fears that the increased reliance on electrical power would demand greater energy conservation, the subsequent chassis and aero regulations have been designed to partially compensate.

That’s why before starting as Aston Martin’s Managing Technical Partner, Adrian Newey believed favour would swing to whomever has the strongest power unit next year.

Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Newey said: ”The reality is I can’t remember another time in Formula 1 when both the chassis regulations and the regulations have changed simultaneously.

“And in this case the chassis regulations have been very much written to try to compensate, let’s say, for the power unit regulations,” he continued.

“So, it’s an extra dimension. I think engine manufacturers will have learnt to an extent on the lack of preparation that the rivals to Mercedes did prior to that change [for 2014] but there has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top and it’ll become a power unit-dominated regulation, at least to start with.”

This could be worrying news to new OEMs such as Red Bull Powertrains or Audi.

The Audi F1 project has an ace up its sleeve, however, in Mattia Binotto, who, in the years before he was Team Principal at Ferrari once held the role of Head of Engines, a position he took on in 2014.

While he admits it “is quite possible” one team could dominate with a superior engine in 2026, he isn’t panicking as his long-term vision at Audi gives the new OEM time to recover.

“We shouldn’t worry about that, even if a manufacturer might start with an advantage,” he said.

“We have time to catch up. Therefore, we should not let ourselves get nervous if that happens.

“We need to focus on ourselves, learn, and draw the right conclusions.”

READ MORE – Fernando Alonso rules out F1 wins with Aston Martin prior to 2026 rules overhaul

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Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie will make its GTP debut amidst 56 entries for the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s 12 Hours of Sebring.

The #23 Aston Martin is one of 13 entries in the GTP category for the 73rd running of the Sebring event on 15 March.

After a pair of Valkyries made their FIA World Endurance Championship debut in Qatar, the naturally aspirated V12 soundtrack will embrace the Sebring International Raceway.

Aston Martin will become the sixth active GTP manufacturer competing in the category.

Fifty-six cars will take on the second round on the IMSA schedule, following the 24 Hours of Daytona on 25-26 January, hosts 12 Oreca 07 LMP2 cars, 20 GTDs and 11 in GTD Pro.

After lasting only 90 minutes in at Daytona, Lamborghini are hoping to bounce back to their near-podium pursuit during last year’s race in which they also made their GTP class debut.

Elsewhere in the category, the Daytona winning-#7 Porsche Penske 963 GTP will be co-driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor.

Tandy achieved a unique grand slam after winning overall at all four of motorsport’s main 24-hour races and is looking for his maiden overall Sebring victory, alike #60 Acura ARX-06 GTP driver Colin Braun, having each earned three class victories.

In the LMP2 category, 12 entries headline the exciting array of teams in the field and United Autosports USA continue as the only name with two cars.

After Tower Motorsports lost their Daytona win to United Autosports, the #8 Oreca team are seeking redemption at the demanding circuit in a gruelling race.

Ford won their first IMSA race at Daytona so are aiming for more against key rivals Paul Miller Racing (BMW) and Corvette whilst GTD showcases the most entrants over the other four categories, as listed here.

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Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso has downplayed talk from McLaren’s Lando Norris suggesting that some midfield Formula 1 teams could challenge for race wins.

Last season, four teams took victories, with McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes as a quartet finishing well clear of the rest in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, convergence under the current regulations, which enter their final year in 2025, has been profound, and this was proven during the Abu Dhabi season finale when eight-tenths covered the 20 cars in the first stint of qualifying.

With that in mind, Norris claimed ahead of the F1 75 launch event that “you’re probably going to have some winners that aren’t McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, or Red Bull”.

That notion was put to Alonso during F1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit last week, but he claimed it would be “difficult” for Aston Martin or any of its midfield challengers to fight for a victory.

“Now that [Norris] has the winning car, he says that,” Alonso told select media including Motorsport Week.

“When he was in the fifth or sixth team, he was saying that only one team will win all the races. 

“So, this is a normal, confident speech, you know. So, it’s good for him, but I think it’s going to be difficult.

“Reliability is so good these days, there are not many retirements, there are not many incidents, strategies are quite defined.

“Even on Thursday before coming to the Grand Prix, you know exactly it’s going to be one stop, two stops, which tyre you will use. 

“So, everything is so perfect now that it’s difficult to change or to make a race unpredictable.

“It has to be crazy weather or something like that.

“You know, hopefully there are multiple winners and it’s going to be a tight championship.

“Last year it was already a very good one and hopefully this year it’s even better.”

Alonso doesn’t predict big pecking order changes 

Aston Martin, although unlikely to be troubling the top four teams as Alonso mentioned, is going to be embroiled in a tough midfield battle this season.

After starting 2024 on the heels of the top four, the Silverstone-based squad fell into the clutches of the midfield as its development progress hit snag after snag.

Asked to predict where Aston Martin lies in the pecking order after testing, Alonso was unsure, expecting little to have changed after the season-finale in Abu Dhabi last year.

“I have no prediction,” he said.

“I didn’t follow the test. I know that [Williams’] Carlos [Sainz] was the fastest [Thursday] because I read all the Spanish news.

“Apart from that, I don’t know even today who is first and who is second. 

“I think they are all in a different programme. I know McLaren did a good long run [Thursday] and Carlos was first.

“All the rest of the teams, all the days and the teams and info, I’m not aware [of]. 

“I guess it’s difficult to believe that things will change so much compared to Abu Dhabi. Let’s put it that way.

“The first four races, I think that things will look similar to Abu Dhabi.”

That means Aston Martin could find itself fighting three to four outfits for those crucial spots left in the top-10 after the top four teams have settled their order.

While Alonso has seen some progress from the AMR25, he admitted that Aston Martin will need to execute “perfect” weekends to pick up points.

“I think we have some positives in the car,” he said.

“We’re not going into the details but obviously the data and the correlation seems good and there is a step forward compared to last year’s car.

“So, we are relatively happy knowing that it’s extremely tight in the midfield and we will have to do perfect weekends if we want to score points.

“But this maybe was not a surprise and we will try to get better throughout the season.”

READ MORE – Alpine wants to ‘clip at the heels’ of leading F1 teams in 2025

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Ferrari has won a legal battle against its former Technical Director Enrico Cardile to prolong his move to Aston Martin as the Silverstone-based Formula 1 squad’s Chief Technical Officer.

Cardile’s departure from Ferrari to Aston Martin was announced last July, and he immediately entered a period of gardening leave.

It was widely expected that Cardile would take up his new position at Aston Martin with the commencement of the 2025 season but he is yet to don the team’s British Racing Green colours.

Reports from Corriere dello Sport suggested Ferrari was pushing for Cardile to complete a full 12 months of gardening leave. 

On Tuesday, it became apparent that the Scuderia had won a legal battle against its former Technical Director (Chassis), preventing him from taking up a position at Aston Martin until July 18.

A statement made by Ferrari via The Race said: “With reference to the recent news regarding the timing of Enrico Cardile’s arrival at Aston Martin, Ferrari clarifies that a few weeks ago the Court of Modena, upholding the requests of the Company, ordered Enrico Cardile to immediately cease any form of collaboration with Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team until next July 18.

“In this urgent procedural phase, the Court of Modena found that our former employee was already violating the non-compete commitment with Ferrari, whose purpose was precisely to prevent other F1 teams from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage by hiring Cardile earlier than allowed, causing irreparable harm to Ferrari.”

Aston Martin announced a leadership restructure ahead of pre-season testing with separate leaders of trackside and factory-based development.

At the time, Aston Martin revealed that Cardile would be overseeing the factory-based development.

Aston Martin’s approach to Cardile now makes sense 

In light of this news, the tentativeness with which Aston Martin has approached questions over Cardile becomes clearer.

Aston Martin had been publicly vocal about Adrian Newey’s March 3 starting date, but when asked when Cardile would start work, the company provided non-committal answers.

Speaking to select media including Motorsport Week during pre-season testing, Team Principal and CEO Andy Cowell said: “We’re looking forward to having a…I guess what we’re looking forward to is having 1000 people working well together.

“We’re looking forward to Adrian joining.

“We’re looking forward to the dozens of new starters that we have every month. 

“I think it was 248 through the 2024 calendar year.

“So, we’re looking forward to having everybody together and working well as a team, each member having clear responsibilities, from Adrian, myself, down to interns working for us for 12 months in their degree.”

READ MORE – How Aston Martin plans to integrate F1 design chiefs Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile

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Aston Martin has addressed that Adrian Newey’s initial work at the team will be split between improving both its 2025 car and the new rules coming to Formula 1 in 2026.

Having announced last October it had won the race to sign the storied designer’s coveted services, Newey has now begun his role as Aston’s Managing Technical Partner.

The Silverstone-based squad harbours the hope that Newey, who will be paid a reputed £20 million per year, can help turn the side into a championship-contending operation.

The Briton has an illustrious track record having provided the blueprint behind cars that have won a combined 26 F1 titles, including several upon a regulation change.

The latest revamp to the technical rule book is on the horizon, with Newey’s arrival coinciding with Aston Martin’s concept group moving attention to the 2026 venture.

But while that will represent the team’s best chance to cut the gap to the leaders, Aston Martin boss Andy Cowell has insisted his expertise can also be utilised on the AMR25.

“You know, everybody’s super excited to work with Adrian,” Cowell told select media including Motorsport Week in Bahrain. “His record speaks for itself. 

“So we’re looking forward to welcoming him on site, doing an induction for a new employee. Might be a little bit different.

“And starting work on introducing him to the key technical players within our business, showing him the business tools for engineering the car, and then getting stuck into creating a 2026 car and helping the improvements on 2025.”

Aston Martin expects seamless Newey adaptation

Newey has come into an organisation that is adapting to a restructuring that took place in response to Aston Martin enduring an underwhelming season last time around.

Cowell, who had been appointed as CEO, has since taken on the Team Principal role, with his predecessor, Mike Krack, being relocated to a trackside-orientated position.

But Cowell, an expert engine guru during his time with Mercedes, has backed the erstwhile Red Bull designer to adapt to his new surroundings in less time than he did.

“I’m sure he’ll get the lay of the land a lot quicker than I did,” Cowell remarked.

Meanwhile, Cowell revealed that the office where Newey will be housed within Aston’s renovated Silverstone campus was all prepared with his renowned drawing board. 

“I could show you a photo, but there’s too many of you to look at the image on my phone,” he quipped. “So yes, his office is ready. The drawing board’s there.”

READ MORE – How Aston Martin plans to integrate F1 design chiefs Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile

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