Fernando Alonso warns Adrian Newey will ‘100%’ struggle with one thing at Aston Martin

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Aston Martin are one of the few teams whose fate is already sealed in the constructors’ championship. While not mathematically guaranteed, it’s almost certain that they’ll finish fifth.

They’ve been lonely for a while now, levels below Mercedes ahead (the gap is 258 points), but comfortably clear of the Haas/RB scrap behind them. Haas would have to more than double their tally to date (38) in the final five races to stand any chance of catching them – that’s how secure they are.

On paper, Aston have held position from 2023. But there’s no doubt that this season has been far more difficult, even though the signings of Adrian Newey, Andy Cowell and Enrico Cardile have inspired great optimism.

Last year, they scored 280 points and eight podiums, all through Fernando Alonso. This time around, they may not break 100 – they currently have 86 – and only the top four teams have finished on the podium.

To add to the frustration for Alonso and Lance Stroll, the team have regressed as the season has gone on. Alonso finished fifth in Saudi Arabia and sixth in Japan and qualified third in China, with Aston still looking forward.

But they’ve since fallen into the midfield, having lost their way in the development race. Mike Krack saw his team fail to score in Austin last weekend, the fifth time that’s happened in the last 12 races.

Fernando Alonso says even Adrian Newey won’t deliver ‘big things’ next year

Aston Martin angered Red Bull by announcing the signing of Newey last month. He’s still an employee at Milton Keynes until the end of the year, and he’ll start at his new team in the spring.

Lawrence Stroll called Newey his most exciting signing, ranking it even above the capture of two-time world champion Alonso. It’s clear that they view this as the move that turns them into a contender.

But speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Alonso went to great lengths to downplay expectations for next year. He doesn’t expect Newey to have a visible impact until the major regulation changes in 2026.

“If I’m honest, I’m 99.9 or 100% he cannot do much for 2025, unfortunately for us,” he said. “He will join in March. I think the focus will be so much on 2026 because of the change in regulations.

“There is the cost cap, there are a lot of limitations that we cannot have two separate programmes. Being honest, in 2025 it’s unlikely that we fight for big things.”

Lawrence Stroll spotted questioning under pressure Aston Martin engineer over updates

As the managing technical partner, Newey will shape Aston’s aerodynamic concept for F1’s new era. He’ll work with former Ferrari man Cardile, while Cowell will head up the integration with new engine suppliers Honda after his historic success at Mercedes.

This engineering team can rival any on the F1 grid. In Alonso, they have a world-class driver, and Aston Martin are also targeting Max Verstappen should be become available.

But signing big names alone doesn’t guarantee success. Indeed, Stroll has yet to see a satisfactory return on his huge investment in the team.

Stroll questioned Dan Fallows, his current technical director, at the US GP, where the latest set of upgrades failed to deliver. It’s early days for the new package, but 13th and 15th was still a bitterly disappointing result.