Adrian Newey is widely considered the greatest F1 car designer of all time, sitting amongst a pantheon of other greats such as Colin Chapman, Gordon Murray, and Rory Byrne. In recent decades, Newey’s main achievements have come in the specific engineering science of aerodynamics. That said, he also dominated in the active suspension era with the Williams FW14B/FW15C.
The Red Bull Years and Tension at Milton Keynes
The British engineer’s tenure at Red Bull Racing was nigh-on two decades long and included fourteen championships from 2010 to 2024. Yet his shock exit suggested he was suffering unrest in his role in Milton Keynes, given he claimed he was retiring before quickly allowing Lawrence Stroll to persuade him to join Aston Martin.
Irritated by Mercedes’ dominance and the lack of a competitive engine partner for Red Bull, Newey stepped down as the team’s technical director in 2018. From then on, he became a part-time advisor to the F1 design team led by Pierre Waché, engaging in other projects such as an America’s Cup sailing entry, along with supercars for Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing.
The tension at Red Bull appeared to center around the significance of Newey’s contribution to the all-conquering RB19. When asked on a number of occasions about the genius of Newey’s design, then-team boss Christian Horner chose to credit the entire design team back at Milton Keynes, something which irritated Newey’s wife.
In response to one of these interviews and similar comments from Horner, Amanda Newey tweeted, “What a load of hogwash.” When a fan suggested the RB19 was not one of her husband’s championship-winning cars, she replied, “Absolute bollocks.”
A Stake in the Ownership: Leaving Williams for McLaren and Aston Martin
While paid handsomely during his time at Red Bull, Newey had regretted never negotiating some equity in any of the winning teams he had helped create. During his time at Williams, where Patrick Head and team founder Frank Williams were the sole owners of the team, Newey asked for a stake having built championship-winning cars for Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, and Damon Hill.
He was refused and so left Williams in 1996 for McLaren F1. Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll, realizing this regret, offered Newey shares in the Aston Martin F1 racing team along with the ‘owner’s’ title of Managing Technical Partner. Since then, with Andy Cowell stepping down as team boss, Newey has been elevated to team principal.
The AMR26 Disaster and Mid-Season Upgrades
With state-of-the-art facilities in Silverstone, Newey was expected to hit the ground running with the all-new technical regulations for 2026. Yet to everyone’s surprise, the Newey-designed AMR26 has been an utter pig, with Adrian initially attempting to throw engine partner Honda under the bus as the source of the team’s woes.
Newey then disappeared from public view until the Monaco Grand Prix, where his rhetoric over Honda’s failures was notably dialed down. Admitting his design direction decision for the AMR26 was problematic, he introduced a B-spec car for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
It was clearly a significant improvement on its predecessor, as Fernando Alonso made it into Q2 on merit for the first time for Aston this season. A Honda engine upgrade is due after the summer break, raising expectations that Alonso and Stroll should move further up the grid.
Even then, the battle for Newey will be to be the best amongst back-of-the-field runners Cadillac, Audi, and Williams. Alpine and Racing Bulls look too far ahead for Aston Martin to catch this season.
Red Bull vs. Aston Martin: A Tale of Two Rebuilds
When Newey moved to Red Bull Racing, it was five years before he designed a championship-winning car for Sebastian Vettel. So why is it such a big deal if his early years at Aston Martin are less successful than most people thought they would be?
The difference is that the Jaguar F1 team, which became Red Bull Racing, was a shambles and had suffered underinvestment in the team’s infrastructure. All this took time to turn around, but the tale at Aston Martin is a very different one.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll has spent hundreds of millions on state-of-the-art facilities at the gates of Silverstone, and the team’s headcount is where it should be. So why has the Newey-designed AMR26 been such a disaster, and is this a sign of Newey’s ultimate decline?
Correlation Issues and Late Development
Newey has explained that his late arrival at the team during March 2025 meant they were behind the rest of the field in getting to work on this season’s car. And while Ferrari had diverted resources to their 2026 project a few weeks earlier, McLaren and Red Bull Racing started their 2026 cars much later in the season.
Despite having the latest kit in Silverstone, on arriving Newey did warn there was a problem between the computerized predictions and the on-track reality:
“I think it is fair to say that some of our tools are weak, particularly the driver-in-the-loop simulator. It needs a lot of work because it’s not correlating at all at the moment, which is a fundamental research tool. Not having that is a limitation. But we’ve just got to work around it in the meantime and then sort out a plan to get it to where it needs to be. But that’s probably a two-year project in truth,” he told The Race in 2025.
Is Adrian Newey in Decline?
So tools which are not working properly and an alleged late start are Newey’s reasons for Aston Martin’s abysmal season to date, yet in reality, there are other factors at play which may indicate it is Newey who is in decline.
First up, Adrian has not been in charge of an F1 design team since 2017. His role as a ‘floating consultant’ at Red Bull was his choice of lifestyle, starting almost a decade ago. In F1, things move on quickly, and it could be that Newey is struggling to lead from the front rather than chip in from the sides.
Ex-F1 racer Johnny Herbert also wonders if Newey’s time has been and gone. Speaking to Vision4Sport, he said:
“You look at what they’ve put together, Aston Martin, with Adrian Newey, the new factory and all that, and having Fernando on board at the same time, and it’s difficult to understand how it has gone so wrong.
“For whatever reason, Adrian hasn’t been able to put together a crew that is able to put together a good car, or even one that is half competitive for what they are trying to achieve… is this the demise of Adrian Newey? The first sign of him [being] on a downward spiral? It happens in sport even to the very best. It was always going to happen. If not quite yet, then there will be a point when it happens.”
While engineers do not ‘decline’ as drivers do due to age and deteriorating athleticism, F1 is a fast-paced world and things move forward quickly. Whether Newey can cope with his role of team principal as well as chief team designer has been questioned by many, but as always, ultimately his efforts will be judged by the results on track.
Would you like to see more TJ13 Formula 1 coverage? Add us to your favourites list on Google to receive trusted F1 news.
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
Andrew’s work focuses particularly on the intersection of Formula 1 politics, regulation, and team strategy. Andrew closely follows developments involving the FIA, team leadership, and driver market dynamics, helping to provide context behind the sport’s biggest stories.
With experience covering multiple seasons of Formula 1’s modern hybrid era, Andrew has developed a detailed understanding of how regulatory changes and competitive shifts influence the grid. Andrew’s editorial approach prioritises clarity and context, aiming to help readers navigate complex developments within the sport.
In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
Newey should have NEVER been team principal. Let him be an engineer. Honda had issues and more than likely still do so the criticism is fair