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Adrian Newey’s decision to point the finger at Honda for the power unit publicly has not gone down well.
Aston Martin’s frustrations with Honda have been no secret, as the team look to dig themselves out of the hole their faulty power unit has left them in.
But Adrian Newey’s public criticism of Honda has garnered a lot of media attention, only adding to their long list of problems.
Have Aston Martin already ‘completely ruined’ their relationship with Honda?
Things got so bad that Honda Racing President Koji Watanabe publicly stated that their partnership cannot stay the same.
Ralf Schumacher has weighed in on the matter, and he believes Newey made a mistake by pointing the finger at Aston Martin’s new partners.
READ MORE: Honda expert says they will need ‘two years’ to make Aston Martin’s F1 engine competitive
Adrian Newey was out of line with Honda criticism, according to Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher reacted to Adrian Newey’s public criticism of Honda on Sky Sports Germany’s Backstage Boxengasse podcast
He believes that Newey’s choice to comment on Honda’s shortcomings publicly broke an unwritten rule in Formula 1, and is reflective of the divide in work culture between Japan and Europe.
“There is a cultural difference (between Europe and Japan) from my experience. I think a certain harshness arose in the communication (between Honda and Aston Martin). And then, there was a twist of accusations coming from Japan.”
“Then there’s Adrian Newey, who basically builds cars saying we need to find out where the vibrations are coming from. And that’s obviously something you don’t do in a relationship.”
“Yes, you can either perform together, discuss it beforehand and say ‘Okay, we’ll work on it together now. Maybe we can work on certain things with suspension.’”
READ MORE: Lawrence Stroll will not drop Honda yet despite being left ‘on the verge of tears’ at Aston Martin
Higher or lower: Aston Martin will complete 20 laps in the Chinese Grand Prix before their first retirement
Adrian Newey must ensure he bridges gap between Honda and Aston Martin soon
As things stand, Honda are hoping to mitigate some of their power unit issues in time for the Japanese Grand Prix. As such, Aston Martin are once again not expected to perform well at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Aston Martin will have to gather as much data as possible in Shanghai to try and further understand the issue, as they look to quickly correct the mistakes.
Lawrence Stroll has spent a lot of money over the last year to try and make Aston Martin competitive. So these results will certainly not please him.
This is where Adrian Newey must prove his mettle as a team principal. While he may have the Midas Touch when it comes to putting cars together, the current turmoil with Honda is testing his ability to be diplomatic during tough times.
Failing to get back into Honda’s good graces could result in Aston Martin replacing Adrian Newey very soon.
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