Aston Martin staff will not admit a 2026 fear that Adrian Newey cannot solve as their team principal

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Adrian Newey will now add another arrow to his decorated quiver in 2026 after Aston Martin announced that the Briton will replace Andy Cowell as their F1 team principal.

The Silverstone squad confirmed on Wednesday that Cowell will move aside after less than a year as their team principal, with Newey combining the role with his duties as their managing technical partner. Cowell will also leave his role as the CEO to become chief strategy officer.

Newey has never been an F1 team principal before throughout his decorated career. The 66-year-old is the most successful person in F1 history, having designed cars that have won the F1 drivers’ championship 14 times and the constructors’ championship 12 times since 1988.

Aston Martin’s leadership reshuffle fuels fears that Honda’s 2026 F1 engine is overweight

Cowell only replaced Mike Krack as team principal of Aston Martin this January, after initially joining as CEO in October 2024. The 56-year-old’s newest role will now see him work closely with Aston Martin’s engine partner, Honda, and their fuel suppliers for the 2026 regulations.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin chief strategy officer Andy Cowell

Yet Aston Martin naming Newey as their team principal from 2026 and moving Cowell into a role where he will work closely with Honda has added fuel to the rumours about their 2026 engine. Honda will leave Red Bull after this term, with Aston Martin becoming a works team.

That is according to Auto Motor und Sport, which reports that rumours have recently begun to circulate in the paddock that Honda’s engine for the 2026 F1 regulations is overweight. It is believed that Honda’s design for Aston Martin’s new car is carrying ‘a few extra kilograms’.

Aston Martin’s leadership reshuffle for 2026 has only fuelled the speculation, which ‘no one’ in the team is willing to go on record and admit. Newey will also be unable to solve the issue in his new role as team principal, with Cowell tasked with working with Honda and Aramco.

Andy Cowell focusing on Honda’s engine with Adrian Newey becoming Aston Martin’s team principal could be a masterstroke

Cowell’s new role as Aston Martin’s chief strategy officer will see him focus on extracting the most from the Silverstone squad’s factory engine deal with Honda and fuel partnership with Aramco. Newey will oversee race operations and their car as Aston Martin’s team principal.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey

The move could prove to be a masterstroke, especially if the concerns regarding the Honda power unit for the 2026 regulations materialise. Cowell was one of the masterminds for the Mercedes engine that dominated F1 after the introduction of 1.6L V6 turbo-hybrids in 2014.

Cowell was managing director of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains until July 2020, which proved to be the last year during a seven-season stretch that the Silver Arrows won successive drivers’ titles. Mercedes also won the teams’ title each year from 2014 to 2021.

Honda knows what it takes to design a winning power unit under the current engine rules, having taken Red Bull racer Max Verstappen to the title in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. But the new regulations pose a major challenge that, it appears, Honda is so far not on top of.