Aston Martin are about to lose their best engineer and it’s Adrian Newey’s fault

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Andy Cowell is reportedly set to leave Aston Martin at the end of the year, and it appears Adrian Newey is to blame.

Cowell was Aston Martin’s team principal in 2025 but, in November, they made the surprise announcement that Newey would take on the role instead.

It’s said that Cowell tried to resign at that point, but Lawrence Stroll convinced him to stay in the alternative role of ‘chief strategic officer’, which has primarily seen him work with struggling engine suppliers Honda.

How Adrian Newey’s power struggle with Andy Cowell made exit inevitable

Stroll may only have delayed the inevitable, because BBC Sport are now reporting that Cowell is ‘expected to leave’ the team later this year. After a statement in February affirming that he would stay, this is another blow to Aston Martin.

Canadian billionaire Stroll is known as one of the most ruthless figures in the F1 paddock and, after discarding so many senior figures in recent years, it’s telling that he made a concerted effort to keep Cowell.

Has Lawrence Stroll made too many changes at Aston Martin?

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After all, the Briton was one of Aston’s statement signings as Stroll assembled an engineering superteam with the aim of competing for titles from 2026.

Cowell has widely been credited as the mastermind behind Mercedes’ engine dominance in the turbo/hybrid era. Since those 2014 regulation changes, he has won even more championships than Newey (eight vs four).

Ferrari have tried to sign Cowell in the past, which shows just how highly rated he is in F1 circles.

While the performance of the Honda power unit is fairly dire right now, that is largely down to staffing shortages and organisational upheaval in Japan. Long term, Cowell’s expertise would have been incredibly valuable in restoring their performance.

Regrettably, there was a power struggle between Newey and Cowell, and the former prevailed. In that scenario, the loser almost always moves on eventually.

After serving a period of gardening leave, Cowell will be an attractive option for rival teams.

Newey was unable to gel with the existing managerial structure when he joined Aston Martin last year, and it has ultimately cost Stroll one of his most precious assets.