Newey (Aston Martin) after illness: How he plans to prevent Alonso from retiring

Tough times for Aston Martin: the Greens, who have built an enviable infrastructure at Silverstone, are bottom of the World Championship table.

On Aston Martin’s own website, Adrian Newey has spoken about his health issues and the problems with the race car.

Newey says: “I’m fine again now, but it was a difficult time. Misfortunes rarely come singly. To be honest, I wasn’t 100 per cent fit last year. I had to balance my health and work much more carefully. The team handled it incredibly well. I had a very good relationship with the engineers, and I didn’t think this caused too many difficulties. That shows just how reliable this team is.”

Now to the problems with the race car. Newey continues: “For years, we’ve relied on tools and processes that were nothing more than a patchwork of fixes. Some of them can be traced right back to the earliest days of the Jordan team, which was based here at Silverstone – long before Aston Martin returned to racing. At some point, a system consisting solely of one patchwork solution after another ceases to be fit for purpose. That was the point we’d reached.”

“The result was a very frustrating car-building process. Parts weren’t ordered on time – not because the staff weren’t doing their jobs, but because the underlying system let them down.”

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“As Aston Martin had started late on developing its car for the new 2026 F1 regulations, problems arose with the integration of the Honda power unit, which forced further compromises.”

“On the chassis side, we’re well over the weight limit. Part of this stems from the integration of the power unit and dealing with vibration issues that we had to work through with Honda, but we haven’t done a good job on our end either when it comes to saving weight. When you’re designing under time pressure, weight is the first thing to suffer because you don’t have the time to optimise everything thoroughly.”

“In terms of aerodynamics, we’ve taken a bold direction – which I largely drove forward – though without the luxury of exploring several concepts in depth because time was running out. I wouldn’t say that the direction we’ve taken is fundamentally wrong, but it has presented challenges that we hadn’t foreseen.”

From Hungary onwards, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are finally set to drive a significantly modified car. Newey continued: “The key structural elements remain the same; the chassis and gearbox architecture haven’t changed fundamentally. But we’ve taken weight out of both, which required re-homologation and crash tests of the front chassis.”

“The front suspension is unchanged. The rear suspension has been slightly revised. We have developed a new nose and fundamentally revised aerodynamic surfaces. So whilst the core structure is similar, this is a major aerodynamic package combined with a significant weight reduction. The aim is to get as close as possible to the weight limit.”

“Fernando is very much looking forward to the upgrade, and if it works, we hope he’ll be in the cockpit for another season. Given his experience, his feel for the car and his ability to steer development, he’s an enormous asset. But he wants to see clear, tangible progress. If we can show that we’re moving decisively in the right direction, he’s absolutely ready to be behind the wheel in 2027 as well.”