11/08/2025 12:55
Aston Martin team principal and CEO Andy Cowell insists the
Silverstone-based squad would be having a better year in F1 had it
guided Adrian Newey's focus towards its 2025 car. As part of an
exclusive interview with RacingNews365 , the Briton explained why
the decorated designer and aerodynamicist has been directed
specifically towards its 2026 project, and what impact that has
subsequently had on the current campaign. Newey officially joined
the team at the start of March as managing technical director after
almost two decades with Red Bull, but has paid no attention to
Aston Martin's existing car, the AMR25, with all his resources
steered at next season, when F1 is overhauling both its chassis and
power unit regulations. With extensive investment by owner Lawrence
Stroll in recent years, which includes: capturing high-profile
recruits like Newey; a works power unit partnership with Honda; and
heavily upgraded or entirely new facilities, Aston Martin is one of
the teams in F1 with the most intense focus on 2026 and beyond.
Therefore, it has opted to sequester Newey, who was designed
chassis which have won 14 drivers' championships and 12
constructors' titles since the early 1990s, to the next generation
of F1, which is looming large over the rest of the season. The
rationale for this sacrifice, as Cowell puts it, is that "the
investment will pay off over more racing seasons", but the
56-year-old is adamant Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll would be
enjoying a stronger car and better results had Newey addressed the
idiosyncrasies of the AMR25. "This year is hugely challenging
because we're here, and what we really want is to have the quickest
car," Cowell said. "And if '26 wasn't there, we would definitely
have a quicker car today. "If, from the first of March, Adrian had
put all his efforts into improving the '25 car, [I'm] absolutely
certain that we would be further up the grid today. "But we're not
doing that, we're focusing on '26 onwards, because the investment
will pay off over more racing seasons, over more events. "And
that's challenging. On a Sunday evening... Saturday after
qualifying, Sunday after a race, we're not happy. Monday morning,
we're not happy. And then you get into the jobs list, and crack
on." Shooting for the stars Expectations are, therefore,
understandably, high ahead of the rules reset. This is not helped
by the sense throughout the F1 paddock that Aston Martin has
underperformed over the past couple of seasons. After starting 2023
as the surprise package of the year, with Alonso capturing six
podiums in the opening eight rounds, the team has been mired in the
mid-pack ever since. Fifth in the constructors' standings that
campaign was followed by a more distant and considerably less
impressive fifth in 2024. This term, in large part due to its
significant focus on 2026, the team is clinging on to sixth, but
had it not been for a strong fifth-and-seventh-place finish at the
Hungarian Grand Prix, where Cowell sat down with RacingNews365 ,
the picture would look less favourable. Nonetheless, despite Aston
Martin's optimism surrounding the new era of F1, it does not mean
the team is not still striving to be competitive, even if the
frustrating nature of the championship means it can only develop in
a certain way and at a certain pace. When asked if the elder
Stroll, who has high expectations for the team of his own, wants
things to move more quickly than they have, Cowell explained that
whilst everyone at the Silverstone squad does, there is a higher
premium placed on ambition over achievement at the moment. "Every
single day we get up, we aspire to get a huge amount done, and we
go to bed having achieved most of it, but rarely all of it," he
said. "If you achieve a plan bang on schedule, you probably put a
bit of comfort in there. "I am absolutely from the school of: you
shoot for the stars, and therefore you clear the trees. "You set
those aspirational targets, you strive for perfection. But it's an
ambition, rather than what you ever achieve - and that's kind of
what I enjoy, and I think what Lawrence [Stroll] enjoys."
