Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
With Adrian Newey coming under heavy fire for Aston Martin’s torrid start to the season, there is concern that he has too much on his plate.
The current issues that Aston Martin are facing due to their Honda power unit have derailed their season. To make matters worse, Newey may have ruined Aston Martin and Honda’s relationship with how publicly vocal he has been about the issues.
As things stand, the Honda power unit issues could take months to fix, meaning that Aston Martin will continue to struggle for some time.
Should the FIA allow Aston Martin to race in these conditions?
Fernando Alonso repeatedly took his hands off the wheel during the Chinese GP for a break from the vibrations
Despite the internal optimism surrounding Newey’s work with Aston Martin, there is speculation that his future with the team isn’t safe.
There are reports that Aston Martin are looking to replace Adrian Newey as team principal. But this may have been a problem of their own creation.
READ MORE: Lawrence Stroll has privately accepted that making Adrian Newey team boss was a mistake
David Croft speculates Adrian Newey’s team principal results led to ‘nonproductive’ output
On the Sky Sports F1 podcast, David Croft spoke about the issues Aston Martin are facing this season, and how that ties into Adrian Newey’s role as team principal. Croft speculated that Aston Martin tried to convince Gianpiero Lambaise to take over as team principal.
But their current issues, in his mind, could be due to them distracting and overloading Adrian Newey with team principal responsibilities when his focus should be on getting the most out of the car.
“Adrian Newey being team principal? I don’t see how that necessarily helps fix things more quickly either. Adrian needs to be concentrating on what he does best.”
“There’s been stories that they’d been talking to Giani (Gianpiero Lambaise) as a potential team principal of the future. That hasn’t reached a conclusion, as far as I know.”
“Whether GP is going to leave Red Bull right now, but if Max leaves Red Bull, then does GP think this could be a logical promotion for me?”
“Adrian Newey, who is the greatest car designer of all time, spending his time as team principal, might that be a little bit nonproductive in terms of his output? You can’t totally overload people, and they produce the results you’re expecting from them.”
READ MORE: Ralf Schumacher says Adrian Newey has already broken a golden rule as Aston Martin team boss
When do you think Aston Martin will complete their first Grand Prix this season?
David Croft expects Aston Martin to debut B-Spec car at Silverstone
David Croft added that, given Aston Martin’s current depth of issues with the Honda power unit, he expects them to unveil a B-Spec car midway through the season.
“ The way I understand it, if you’ve got the MGUK that is bolted to the chassis that is vibrating so much and causing the chassis to vibrate, and that’s then transferring to the power unit, that needs a redesign of the power unit.”
“And if you’re going to redesign a power unit, that does need a B-Spec car. Because obviously, the car has been designed around where the power unit bits are.”
“I think halfway through the season, maybe Silverstone, we see a B-Spec car at Aston Martin. Until then, you just have to try and find a fix if you can.”
The upcoming hiatus in the F1 calendar due to the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix could give Aston Martin some time to make improvements, but a significant overhaul is unlikely.
The hope for the team and Honda is to gather as much data as possible in Suzuka and use the five-week hiatus to address the most pressing issues.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
