Enrico Cardile shares what’s so ‘unique’ about working with Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

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If Aston Martin are going to be competing at the front of the grid next season, then Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile will be essential to that progress.

Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin in March after deciding to leave Red Bull last year.

Newey has a part-ownership role at Aston Martin, and his official title is technical director, highlighting his importance to the team.

He’s been joined behind the scenes by Enrico Cardile, who was brought in from Ferrari as chief technical officer, meaning he’ll be working in tandem with Newey.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have not been having an easy time this season, with a place in the top 10 of the drivers’ championship likely to be the best they can achieve this year.

However, both drivers will be pinning their hopes on next season being far more successful when F1’s regulations change, potentially levelling the playing field for the 11 teams that will be in the paddock.

Newey has been solely focusing on Aston Martin’s 2026 car since his arrival, and Cardile has now explained what’s so ‘unique’ about working with the design genius.

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

Enrico Cardile praises Adrian Newey’s ‘unique’ experience after joining Aston Martin

Cardile spoke about working with Adrian Newey for the first time on the Beyond The Grid Podcast and explained: “Yeah, Adrian is a mix of two things that are making him unique.

“On one hand, there is a very, very bright, outstanding engineer and a very, very bright mind.

“On the other hand, there is a long experience. Experience gained when F1 teams were made up of just a few people, and the technology to support the development was not as much as we have now.

“So, he developed his career with the technology available for developing the car being all the time on top of this technology.

“Talking with him is like talking to a modern F1 team. It’s like talking at the same time with the chief designer, the vehicle dynamics expert. In just one person, you find so many different skills, which are unique.

“If I have to mention one [I’ve learned from Newey], it is how uncompromised he is.

“How driven he is for achieving his goal without making any compromise anywhere, pushing all the staff, regardless of the magnitude, to perfection.”

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

Enrico Cardile admits he’s been surprised by Honda’s commitment to Aston Martin’s 2026 F1 project

Cardile was also asked about Aston Martin’s upcoming partnership with Honda and his role in discussions with them, and he continued: “Personally, since I joined, I’m focusing my attention on the chassis. So, just marginally, I’m seeing what Honda is doing.

“From what I see, I am surprised by the commitment and the aggressive approach they have.

“They’re very open to collaborating and satisfying the request we have on the chassis side.

“So, my focus is, so far, I would say, on the chassis development rather than on the power unit.”

He was then asked about the positives and negatives of being Honda’s only customer in F1 from next season and continued: “Yes, I like more the positive side of this because on one hand, during the development, they’re just following and trying to satisfy our request.

“So they don’t need to find any compromise with different requests. On the other hand, I guess they can push a bit more on development because having to provide power units just to one team, the quantities are lower than having multiple teams.

“I guess it’s allowing them to push more for the development.”

Enrico Cardile tells Lance Stroll that he reminds him of F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen

If Aston Martin have a championship-winning car next year, then the spotlight will be on Alonso and Stroll as to whether they can go on to win a drivers’ championship.

Alonso has shown he has the ability to win a championship, but his last success came 19 years ago with Renault.

Stroll has yet to win a race in 184 Grand Prix starts, although it would be unfair to suggest that he’s missed out on many opportunities.

Sergio Perez’s win at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix is the only time that Stroll has been teammates with someone when they’ve won a race.

Cardile has since compared Stroll to 2007 F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, but whether he can mimic the Finn’s title-winning campaign during his career is another matter.