Aston Martin are already making a critical Adrian Newey error after Andy Cowell’s latest comments

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One of the most intriguing storylines going into the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season was how Aston Martin were going to perform after a disappointing end to last year.

Although Aston Martin managed to finish fifth in the constructors’ championship last season, they had fallen behind several of their rivals by the end of the campaign.

Lance Stroll went on a run of 11 Grand Prix without scoring a point and Fernando Alonso crawled to a P9 finish in the standings after a tricky second half of the season.

Expectations are high within the Silverstone-based team though after Aston Martin built a state-of-the-art new factory and a new wind tunnel as well as hired some impressive personnel to join their backroom staff.

The arrival of Adrian Newey has also created plenty of excitement around the team given his previous winning record in Formula 1.

However, some recent comments from new team principal Andy Cowell suggest that he may need to rethink how he uses the design genius to maximise his effectiveness over the coming weeks, months and years.

READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin managing technical partner Adrian Newey

Andy Cowell admits Adrian Newey’s main focus at Aston Martin is their 2026 Formula 1 car

Cowell was asked about Newey’s introduction to the team having joined on March 3 from Red Bull and explained, via ESPN: “Adrian joining brings a huge amount of experience and a great competitive mindset, and the choice we have made at the moment is that Adrian is working on the 2026 car.

“He’s putting a lot of effort into that and understanding that.

“He’s been in the engineering office, looking at the 2026 regulations and working out the compromises needed to create a fast race car under the new rules.

“Maybe when we’ve learned where our car is, its strengths and weaknesses, in the opening races, he’ll come up with the odd development tweak for the 2025 car.

“We’ve got a new wind tunnel and we have got a lot of equipment within the factory and we are trying to develop and build those tools so they all fit together and build the team, the team spirit, so that we’re focused on creating the fastest race car we possibly can.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin CEO and team principal Andy Cowell

Adrian Newey has to shift immediately focus to Aston Martin’s 2025 car after positive Australian Grand Prix

Ahead of the start of the season, Ted Kravitz suggested Aston Martin could be the ninth-fastest team in F1 following a disappointing testing campaign.

However, the Australian Grand Prix went better than expected with both cars safely through to Q2 and Stroll able to secure a brilliant sixth-place finish.

Alonso was delighted for Stroll but the result of the race highlighted how competitive the midfield battle is going to be this year.

Cowell wants to see a change in Alonso this season although making an unfortunate error and hitting the barriers wouldn’t have been in his initial plans.

Sauber have already beaten last season’s points tally, while Williams, Alpine and Racing Bulls have all taken a step forward.

Asking Newey to analyse this year’s car and recommend any immediate changes could earn Aston Martin millions in additional prize money if they make up even one additional place in the constructors’ championship based on his feedback.

That would then have a positive effect on their cost cap for 2026 when Aston Martin expect to be one of the leading teams in the paddock.

However, the longer Cowell delays letting Newey assess the AMR25, the less impactful any feedback will be.