Adrian Newey sensing ‘deja vu’ at Aston Martin from his time at Red Bull but it’s not good news

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Adrian Newey will be hoping that he can add another championship to his collection at Aston Martin.

The current constructors’ championship standings don’t make for pretty reading for Aston Martin fans.

With four race weekends remaining, Aston Martin sit seventh in the championship, seven points ahead of Haas and a further two points clear of Sauber.

Fernando Alonso has been particularly negative about Aston Martin’s performance this season, and there’s a real risk that they only finish above Alpine by the time the campaign ends.

Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso will already be looking forward to 2026 and Formula 1’s upcoming regulation changes.

The man in charge of developing and designing Aston Martin’s 2026 car is Adrian Newey, with help from the likes of Enrico Cardile, Bob Bell and power unit expert and team principal Andy Cowell.

Newey has now shared an update on Aston Martin’s progress ahead of next year, and while he admits there’s a sense of ‘deja vu’ from his time at Red Bull, it doesn’t sound like the most positive comparison.

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

Adrian Newey sensing Aston Martin ‘deja vu’ from his time at Red Bull ahead of the 2026 season

Newey was asked on the James Allen on F1 Podcast how it feels to be at Aston Martin compared to when he first joined Red Bull more than 20 years ago, and he said: “It’s difficult to judge because of this big regulation change; everybody has a bit of a reset, and chances are that the top teams this year will be the top teams next year.

“But, occasionally, there’s a bit of disruption. It happened last time there was a big regulation change to an extent in 2009, where Ferrari and McLaren, who were the big ones in 2008, floundered and Brawn and Red Bull came forward, so it does happen, but by and large, the same teams tend to keep on at the top.

“I think the main point is that you ask how it’s going? The honest truth is that I have no idea because this reset, you don’t know whether you’re doing good, bad or indifferent relative to the opposition because you have no knowledge of what they’re doing.

“But I think also on the how’s it going question, I think this is also the culture thing. So, Red Bull, when I started, was the ashes of a team Jaguar that had been under Ford management for many years and had never had any significant success. I don’t think it had a podium.

“Under Jaguar’s badge, it had very little success. And so people started to lose belief that they could ever win a race.

“And once you stop believing that you can do that, then everything goes wrong because complacency sets in, laziness sets in, lack of self-belief creeps in.

“If you’re not careful, blame culture can set in as well. And so that was quite a difficult thing to overturn at Red Bull. I won’t say too much, but there is a bit of deja vu at the moment.”

READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Fernando Alonso admits Adrian Newey is doing something he’s never seen before at Aston Martin

The 2026 campaign will mark 20 years since Alonso won his second and most recent Formula 1 title.

It’s hard to believe Alonso is still on the grid, considering he made his debut in 2001, and that he’s somehow only won two championships.

Alonso has been amazed by working with Newey since his arrival in March, and hopes the man who has helped drivers win 14 individual titles in the past can add a 15th championship to his tally next year.

Cowell believes Aston Martin have wasted opportunities to utilise Newey this season as they concentrate their efforts on next year.

If Alonso is in the running for a historic third title in 2026, then that sacrifice will be easy to justify.