While Aston Martin faces a tough 2025 campaign, behind the scenes the team is fully focused on 2026.
This surprisingly includes the work of Adrian Newey. Since joining Aston Martin in March, the veteran designer has focused entirely on the upcoming regulations, apart from a few “lunch-break meetings” with technical personnel about this year’s Challenger.
Newey’s first weeks were mainly about observation – getting to know the team, identifying weaknesses, and most of all finding areas for improvement. This applies to operational aspects, which is why Navy participated in several race weekends, including the Monaco Grand Prix, but also to Aston Martin’s technical infrastructure.
At the event, Newey told a select group of media, including Motorsport.com, that the team’s driver-in-the-loop simulator was not yet at the required level, and described it as an “obstacle” for the next two yearsTeam principal and CEO Andy Cowell immediately dismissed that statement and said it was a matter of months rather than years.
Now, several months later, Cowell shared a light-hearted anecdote about Newey’s Monaco statements during an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com: “Adrian did the interview and as he walked away from that interview, he whispered in my ear and said, yes, I just said two years, because I know it would move people. And we just smiled and laughed about it!”
According to Cowell, Newey’s comments have actually motivated the team to prove him wrong.
Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Partner of Aston Martin F1
Photo by: Jack Mauger/Motorsport Images via Getty Images
“There’s a lot of work going on to advance the simulation, make it more representative, and make the cockpit environment more representative. There’s a concerted effort being made to make improvements, and also to make sure Adrian isn’t focused on that. We want to make sure he can completely focus on something else,” Cowell said, referring to designing the fastest possible car under F1’s new rules for 2026.
The way Newey’s comments were received internally says a lot about Aston Martin’s ambition, with Cowell saying: “That’s what I like about the team spirit. We’re all proud of the areas we’re working on, and it’s exactly the same within the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team.
“So the people who were taking care of the driver-in-the-loop simulator certainly took it badly, but the way they’re responding is to work even harder together.”
Cowell also pointed to the added value of ferrari Recruit Enrico Cardile, Who started at Aston Martin just two months agoWhile Newey focuses on the design of the 2026 car, Cardile is responsible for aligning all technical departments at the Silverstone complex.
“Enrico is pulling them all together. With Enrico’s experience, he’s pulling those groups together for the good of the equipment and for the good of the race car,” Cowell explained.
This includes a driver-in-the-loop simulator, meaning Cowell is confident it won’t be a “two-year disruption” – as Newey claimed. At least according to the team boss, his comments in Monaco had the desired effect.
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