Adrian Newey has ‘recognised’ that some of Aston Martin’s F1 problems are his fault

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Adrian Newey has picked out the weak points on the Aston Martin AMR26 that are from his own doing. 

Heading into the 2026 campaign, the expectation was that Newey would lead Aston Martin into the start of a successful era.

With backing from Lawrence Stroll and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in the driving seat, Aston Martin were expected to challenge the likes of McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

However, it has been a dreadful start to the Newey era as Aston Martin’s AMR26 has proved to be problematic. 

Alonso has so far finished just one race, coming home 18th at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Did Aston Martin make a mistake dropping Mercedes as engine partners for Honda?

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The AMR26 has been suffering from intense vibrations from the Honda-powered engine, which caused issues for both Alonso and Lance Stroll. 

It has also been pointed out that the Newey-designed chassis might not be as good as first thought.

READ MORE: Adrian Newey and Honda disagree with Lawrence Stroll about Aston Martin writing off 2026 F1 season

Adrian Newey ‘recognises’ that some of Aston Martin’s problems are his fault

Now, according to Spanish news outlet Marca, there are also weak points from an aerodynamic point of view, despite it being Newey’s strong point. 

The report stated that Newey has recognised those issues and also claimed that the AMR26’s chassis is only good enough for mid-table.

It has been noted that if Aston Martin had stuck with Mercedes as their engine supplier, they would only be fighting with the likes of Alpine and Haas.

Furthermore, it is believed that the Aston Martin AMR26 is also overweight and struggles with high-speed corners. 

Adrian Newey ‘offended’ Honda after publicly addressing Aston Martin problems

Ahead of the season opener in Melbourne, Newey appeared to blame Honda as the root of Aston Martin’s problem. 

Newey spoke about Honda bringing only 30% of their original team into their F1 return, something the 67-year-old said Aston Martin were not aware of until late last year.

He said: “They re-entered with let’s say only, I’m guessing, 30 per cent of their original team and now in a budget cap era. So they started very much on the back foot and unfortunately they’ve struggled to to catch back up.

“We only really became aware of it kind of November of last year when we – Lawrence [Stroll], Andy Cowell and myself – went to Tokyo to discuss as rumours starting to suggest that their original target power they wouldn’t achieve for race one.

“Out of that came the fact that many of the original workforce had not returned when they restarted.”

According to Italian publication Motosport, Newey’s comments ‘offended’ people within Honda.

The report stated that Newey’s words led to Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s chief engineer and trackside general manager, setting up an ‘urgent’ group to steer Aston Martin away from their early-season woes.

The unexpected break this month has come at a good time for Aston Martin, as it allows them to work tirelessly behind the scenes to make improvements.

Next month, the AMR26 will once again be under the spotlight as F1 returns with the Miami Grand Prix.