16/08/2025 11:05
Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell has praised the early
impact Adrian Newey has had on the team. Newey joined the
Silverstone-based squad as its technical director this year
following a lengthy and successful stint with Red Bull. The Briton
is renowned as one of the greatest car designers in the history of
the sport, with his cars winning 12 constructors' and 14 drivers'
championships. Newey has not been a consistent presence trackside
this year as he takes on a majority of his work at the Silverstone
factory. His last appearance came at the British Grand Prix, where
Cowell revealed he opted to make a last-minute schedule change in
order to continue his design work. "We'd planned for Adrian to be
at the circuit on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Cowell
exclusively told RacingNews365 . "On Wednesday night, he said 'You
know what? I'm going to be in the factory on Thursday. There are
some bits that I want to scheme and create'. "It was the same on
Friday, the same on Saturday morning. He came along for qualifying
and he came along for the race. "That shows his level of focus on
2026 and the contribution to 2026." Newey is having zero influence
on the current Aston Martin challenger as he places his focus on
next year's car, which is being constructed under a new set of
technical regulations. Cowell detailed how Newey has thrown himself
into the project as Aston Martin hope to start the sport's new era
in a competitive position. "He's got a drawing board in the office
and a team of people who provide support to that," Cowell said.
"There's also a drawing board at home. It's not about dropping his
laptop into his bag and going home, it's rolling up some drawings
and going home. "Since the beginning of March, his commitment to
regulation, understanding and contribution to the architecture of
the 2026 car is huge. His work ethic is really, really impressive."
Despite being in the role for less than six months, Cowell stated
Newey's impact is already being felt on other team members. "His
attention to detail across all disciplines of the car is mighty,
which is great," he said. "That rubs off. That percolates through
the whole business, chatting to people in the model build area
adjacent to the wind tunnel. "We're making changes to the model
quicker than we've ever done before which is largely because of the
investment, but also because of the drive of the number of
iterations that's coming through from Adrian and the team around
him. "We want to run all of those in the wind tunnel before we
commit to the architecture for 2026. If you want to do more in a
fixed period of time, you've got to do it quicker. "It's minute by
minute planning as to how that can be achieved and chatting to the
guys, saying, 'it's great to see what's been done, well done'."
