Adrian Newey has finally achieved his goal in Formula One, to be a part owner in a team for which he is designing the cars. Frank Williams admitted he should have offered the F1 guru designer shares in his team to prevent him from leaving for McLaren back in the 1990’s.
None of the senior management at Red Bull Racing were offered an equity involvement by founder Didi Mateschitch, although the salaries Horner and Newey were to receive were eye watering by comparison with other team bosses and Technical Directors.
Aston Martin is building the hype for its new start in 2026 having claimed the signature of F1’s greatest ever engineer they will also partner with Honda, who have in part been behind the recent Red Bull Racing success.
Ex-F1 driver claims RBR power unit behind schedule
Hardly a week goes by without some ex-driver or pundit recommending in the F1 media that Max Verstappen hurries up and signs for Aston Martin and the latest poor showing by Red Bull in the pre-season test in Abu Dhabi has done little to dampen down these calls.
On the topic of the Red Bull-Ford new powertrain, ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert now states to a British gambling site: “There’s rumours that it’s been tougher than they [Red Bull] ever expected and it hasn’t been as positive as they were expecting.
“That makes your decision much easier when you know that it’s not going quite to plan with the power unit itself, and then you know that the power unit that you were successful with is going to be at Aston Martin as well, along with Adrian Newey.”
The ex-F1 steward and Sky F1 pundit believes it makes complete sense for Verstappen to leave Red Bull for Aston Martin next year. “If all those elements aren’t working where he’s at presently, as I’ve heard on the Ford front, and an opportunity came at Aston Martin, I would be shocked if Max wouldn’t bite and go for it,”
The myth that Aston, Honda and Newey are bound for success
Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, although during last year’s turmoil within the team, Christian Horner made it plain he would not prevent anyone including Max from leaving Red Bull Racing if their heart was no longer in the project. In repose to repeated questions over his future team, Verstappen was clear towards the ed of last season he had no th9ughts at present about leaving Red Bull Racing.
Despite this Herbert argues he should, “because he knows very well that potentially, with Adrian and with the Honda, Aston Martin will be the place to be,” he concluded.
Yet TJ13 believes the noise about Verstappen leaving RBR and Aston Martin becoming the next F1 super-power is overstated. When Newey joined the remnants of the jaguar F1 team, rebranded as Red Bull, it was in his fifth season with the team before they achieved championship success. The RB6 challenger for 2010 was described by Adrian Newey as “probably the car with the most downforce in the history of Formula One.” Its success saw a run of four driver ad constructor titles for Red Bull, a trend only overturned by the introduction of the new V6 turbo hybrid power units in 2014.
Renault often complained about receiving little credit for their part in Red Bull’s success, though their off throttle blowing design did allow Newey to direct incremental air flows across the diffuser to gain downforce. The problem with this technical solution was it created a “counter intuitive driving style” which Mark Webber claimed it meant he was not braking when he would normally do so, in order to allow the extra downforce to kick in for the corner.
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F1 again an “engine formula” in ’26 says Newey
Come 2014, Renault’s V6 turbo hybrid was not at the races, and Newey in disgust asked to join other projects outside of Formula One. He knew without a decent PU in the back of his car design, there was no chance of it winning many races nor championships.
Whilst Aston Martin are not quite the remnant’s of a failed Ford F1 experiment, they remain under which ever guise we describe them, as a middle order team. Their brand new $200m facilities and wind tunnel are far better than the tools Newey inherited when joining Red Bull, yet their team of engineers is yet to prove themselves amongst the best.
Herbert’s comments that Honda joining Aston Martin was a no brainer for Verstappen and that the Japanese engine supplier along with Adrian Newey will automatically be a winning formula, is for the birds. The challenges faced by Aston, Newey and Honda are immense and even Newey has admitted 2026 will be a season all about the power units.
To this end Honda today admit they are behind the curve on their 2026 power unit design. They decided late in 2022 to rejoin the party for 2026, but had already lost many of their best engineers to Red Bull Powertrains.
Honda admit to last minute changes
With less than a year before the new power units begin an extended pre-season testing for 2026, Honda admitted this week they are up against it once again. Their new project leader now reveals, “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,” said Tesushi Kaduna. This is no Red Bull rumour like Herbert refers to, rather than fro the horses mouth.
“It’s difficult to say exactly what percentage of progress we have made, but I believe we have reached a considerable stage. Regarding how we handle high-speed combustion, fuel-related factors also come into play. The environment is changing drastically, and things will not work the same way as before.”
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Honda have been here before
This does not sound like a team ‘hitting its milestones’ as Red Bull Powertrains report each six months, and the problem with tinkering around with the architecture until the last minute, hampers reliability testing which takes weeks after the final design is settled upon.
Honda proved this was the case back in 2015, when ill prepared and homologating their PU at the last minute, McLaren suffered 11 DNS/DNF engine related issues in the first ten Grand Prix weekends of the season.
Max Verstappen will be going nowhere until he sees how the first half of the 2026 season pans out, although if one team mother than Red Bull dominate, the door should be open for the Dutchman, whoever is ruling the new F1 roost.
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The truth about Hamilton – from an Italian
VOICE OF THE FANS, a TJ13 article about Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari by a long standing F1 fan and expert, Carlo – I remember back in the early 80’s when my father – my hero – first needed my help. At the time it seemed completely incidental but looking back some 40 odd years later I see it almost like a changing of the guard between generations.
To give this some context, my mother and father were Italian immigrants who came to the UK for the betterment of their family. My father, after finishing National Service, completed his apprenticeship in Italy, which included car mechanics and coach-building.
Here in the UK, he worked for several establishments, including Rolls Royce, and was part of the engineers who – at Lola – built the early examples of the Ford GT40 before the project was moved to Dearborn in America… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
