Last Updated on April 7 2026, 11:39 pm
It couldn’t get much worse for the Aston Martin Formula One team, could it? The missed almost all of the pre-season Barcelona shakedown denying their engine partner Honda valuable track time then in Melbourne the vibrations in the car were so difficult for the drivers, neither could complete the Grand Prix distance.
This was a team expected to challenge for honours this season as team owner Lawrence Stroll has invested hundreds of millions in Aston Martin’s state of the art Silverstone headquarters. The Canadian billionaire has recruited the very best in the business including Newey, the most successful F1 car designer of all time.
Partnering with Honda this season was intended to give Aston Martin the competitive edge often needed to win F1 titles with a dedicated works team relationship with the Japanese manufacturer.
Newey throws Honda under the bus
The writing was on the wall at the launch of the AMR26 when the online stream failed to start on time and then the video and audio were out of sync with each other. Then came the picture freezes followed by a complete crash, driving fans to distraction with one posting online “what an embarrassment.”
Adrian Newey famously threw Honda under the bus in Melbourne giving an interview claiming they had lost all their experienced engineers and were badly understaffed. He further claimed it was the Honda power unit which was the sole source of the vibrations whilst the chassis was the “receiver.”
Since Australia, Honda have fought back in the war of words with project director Koji Watanabe insisting they are working as “one team” to solve the problems. Further, he revealed in Japan that when testing the powertrain on the dyne’s there were acceptable levels of vibration, but once fitted into the car they were in fact amplified – contradicting Newey’s original analysis.
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Aston Martin AMR26 part of the problem
Enrico Cardille, Newey’s number two, has been appointed as pontiff man to work with Honda on the issues and interestingly Aston Martin introduced some kind of dampening system for practice in Japan, which alleviated the vibration for the drivers.
However, as revealed by Alonso they returned during qualifying and the race, because Aston Martin had removed them concerned over reliability. It was important at Honda’s home race at least one of the cars made it to the chequered flag and it did in the hands of Alonso – although a lap down.
Appointing Newey as the team principal was always a car crash waiting to happen. Whilst he is indubitably a genius in front of his easel, his people skills leave a lot to be desired. In Melbourne Newey looked haggard and his monotone monologue about Honda was less than inspiring.
A team principal has to stand before the assembled troops in Silverstone and call them to arms, to rally their spirits and layout the vision ahead. These are not skills which Newey possesses and more worryingly the fact that team owner Lawrence Stroll did not recognise that bodes ill for the future.
Hill questions Newey’s perfectionism
The 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill believes there could be further trouble ahead for the Aston Martin F1 team. Speaking on The Race podcast he suggests the Silverstone staff may not be buying into his ideas and vision.
“Is there a point at which Adrian will bring about catastrophe?” Asked Hill in rhetorical fashion. “Because he’s pushing it to an extent, his competitiveness will get the better of him.” Newey is known to be a perfectionist, often refusing to sign off an upgrade for his cars until he believes they are sport on. This is presumably why the Aston Martin team failed to produce enough components to build the car in time for the Barcelona shakedown.
His success at Red Bull was due to the fact that Christian Horner’s skill set was different to Newey’s. Being a proven project manager Horner would ensure the deadlines were met, whether his chief designer believed they were perfect or not.
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“Maybe he’s lost his mind” – Newey
Damon Hill saw Newey up close and personal in action at Williams in the 90’s winning his title in the championship ship winning FW18. Hill believes Newey’s perfectionism may be the root of Aston Martin’s problem. “I think Adrian is someone who will have a vision of perfection, his idea of perfection, and will want to bring everyone on board with it.
“And a bit like Moses, everyone’s going, ‘Well, where is this promised land and we’re not sure we’re going to get there and we can’t maybe see the same land of milk and honey that you do?’ And there’ll be a point at which he has to just say, ‘Just trust me. We’ll get there.’ And then how long have you got before they go, ‘Maybe he’s lost his mind.”
Despite certain media reports to the contrary, Newey presently remains the Aston Martin team principal. Andy Cowell his predecessor is embedded in Sakura with Honda, but is reportedly leaving the Silverstone based team after the summer break.
Is Christian Horner the man for Aston Martin?
The recently sacked Audi team boss, Jonathan Wheatley, has been suggested as a replacement for Newey, although his gardening leave is likely to be lengthy. Christian Horner when relieved of his post at Red Bull, accepted a discounted pay off to ensure his time tending his roses was kept to a minimum – and that was nine months.
Horner reportedly comes available to return to F1 this month and its hard to see how Lawrence Stroll does not consider him the man to take over the reigns of his runaway horse. The former Red Bull boss was reportedly putting together a consortium to buy a 24% in the Alpine team.
Yet recent reports claim Toto Wolff has put the kibosh on that deal, by himself proposing to take over the stake holding. However he slices the pie, Lawrence Stroll needs to take decisive action and soon. The team cannot wait for Wheatley to complete his garden leave and for his own sanity, Newey needs to be relieved of the arduous duties he is not cut out for.
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A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13 and a career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media. Having trained in investigative journalism and contributed to several European sports outlets, Hunt brings rigour and polish to every article. His role is to sharpen analysis, check facts and ensure TJ13’s daily output meets the highest editorial standards.
