Aston Martin confirm major 2026 role change for Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell

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Aston Martin have confirmed a leadership shake up next season with Adrian Newey stepping into the role as team principal.

The team announced that a new agreement will see Newey and current team principal Andy Cowell divide responsibilities for the 2026 season, with the iconic car designer taking the helm for the new regulations.

With the 2026 regulations set to challenge the teams, Aston Martin said they wanted to “take advantage of the opportunity this brings” when announcing their leadership changes.

Newey joined the team as a technical director on 1 March 2025, after having left Red Bull last year, after 19 seasons with the Milton Keynes-based squad.

In a statement released by Aston Martin, Newey said: “Over the last nine months, I have seen great individual talent within our Team. I’m looking forward to taking on this additional role as we put ourselves in the best possible position to compete in 2026, where we will face an entirely new position with Aston Martin now a works team combined with the considerable challenge faced by the new regulations.”

Newey is widely regarded as the greatest car designer in Formula 1 history, having worked on championship-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull over the last four decades.

Rumours began circulating at last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix that the team were considering a change in leadership; however, Aston Martin refused to confirm.

The changes mean that Cowell will now take on a new role as chief strategy officer, which will see him working closely on the team’s technical partnership with Honda, Aramco and Valvoline.

Cowell, who also has an extensive engineering career in Formula 1, said: “Having implemented much needed structural changes as we transition to a full works team and set the foundations for Adrian and the wider organisation, it is an appropriate time for me to take a different role as Chief Strategy Officer.”

Cowell has been the head of the team for the past 14 months, having taken over the role from Mike Krack in 2024.