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Adrian Newey was already being written off in some quarters before the 2026 Formula 1 season started, according to a paddock insider. Newey’s tenure at Aston Martin has started disastrously.
The Silverstone outfit are bottom of the constructors’ championship after three rounds with just one race finish to their name across both cars. Aston Martin are around 3.5 seconds off the pace in both qualifying and race trim.
Engine suppliers Honda have been predominantly blamed for this deficit. But while Newey says his chassis is one of the top five on the grid, there is a growing belief that he is partly responsible.
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Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin car was tipped to be a ‘fat green whale’
According to Planet F1 and journalist Thomas Maher, views on Newey were already split before the season started. Some in the paddock thought he was ‘past his best’.
One source even predicted that his first Aston Martin car would be a ‘fat green whale’. It has since emerged the AMR26 is indeed overweight.
On the other hand, some predicted that the career change would ‘rejuvenate’ Newey, who had been with Red Bull since 2006.
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His ability to exploit new regulations was also noted. Red Bull’s dominance during the ground-effect era – Verstappen was unbeaten from 2022 to 2024 – was partly due to his suspension concept.
Newey is earning up to £30m per year at Aston Martin and his contract, signed in 2024, is believed to run for five years.
The elephant in the room for Adrian Newey and Aston Martin
The unnamed paddock figures arguably showed Newey a lack of respect. He is, after all, one of the most decorated engineers in F1 history, with 15 championship-winning cars on his resume.
But the one thing that nobody is talking about is Newey’s age. He will turn 68 at the end of this year.
That’s not to say he is over the hill in designer terms, but it raises serious questions about how much longer he will work full-time.
Given the depth of their current problems, it could take multiple years for Aston Martin to be truly competitive. Will Newey sign another contract before 2029 and commit to designing cars well into his 70s?
These are long-term questions. In the short term, the priority is to find another team principal, allowing him to focus solely on design. The longer the current arrangement goes on, the more it will sap his energy.
Aston Martin are expected to sign Jonathan Wheatley, Newey’s former Red Bull colleague, after he abruptly left his role at Audi.
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