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  • Adrian Newey To Step Down As Aston Martin F1 Team Principal

    Adrian Newey To Step Down As Aston Martin F1 Team Principal

    Adrian Newey will step down as F1 Team Principal at Aston Martin’s F1 team principal.

    The 67-year-old world renowned designer, who replaced previous Team Principal Andy Cowell four months ago, will continue in his work as Aston Martin’s F1 Managing Technical Partner, with Audi’s Jonathan Wheatley – himself less than a year into his role – most likely to replace him.

    Wheatley and Newey spent almost two decades working together at Red Bull Racing before both announcing their own departures in the wake of the Christian Horner misconduct scandal in 2024.

    The news comes after a disastrous start to the Aston Martin-Honda partnership, largely on the engine side, which has seen repeated reliability issues and a lack of performance at the start of a new era of F1 technical regulations, which has aimed for a near 50/50 split between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and the battery powered by the MGU-K.

    Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have been unable to finish a Grand Prix due to excessive vibrations that have shaken the engine to the point of failure, with Newey revealing that the drivers risked long term damage to their health in a pre-weekend press conference at the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

    Kieran’s Analysis:

    This entire Newey/Wheatley/Aston Martin news came out of NOWHERE from my side. Two races into the season and a big change already?! Deja vu from 2025 in the Red Bull stables!

    In all seriousness, this change shapes 2 teams futures: Audi and Aston Martin.

    Firstly the positives from my side: Aston will have 2 of the biggest personnel at their best areas which will be a MAJOR boost for the entire team and drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Newey is widely regarded as the best car designer in the business and Wheatley, in this writer’s opinion, is one of the best team principals in F1 with DTS showing behind the scenes of the private man who would have been ideal for Red Bull to promote to succeed Christian Horner.

    Now the negatives and it will come primarily from the Audi side: losing a key figure to their long term project is a MAJOR negative for their plan. Wheatley was imagined to be the leading man in the case for Audi to become world champions in Formula One. However, it seems that train has been derailed which is not good for Audi. The question then remains: who will take over the seat? They could place Binotto who has experience as being a team principal but is overseeing the engine development. Could Audi promote someone with experience like Andreas Seidl who left the Audi project in 2024? Could we see a name like Allan McNish jump into that seat? Or is there another name in the hotseat? This writer is certain of something: shockwaves will be sent around the paddock as this could shape silly season for both team principals and drivers!

    Jack Prentice:

    On the face of it, this adds more chaos to an already unstable start to 2026 and the partnership between Aston Martin and Honda.

    After firing shots in the pre-weekend press conference at the first round in Australia by telling the world’s media that Aston Martin weren’t aware of how different the makeup of this Honda engine department was from the successful team that powered Red Bull to victory, and that the engine represented a danger to the driver’s long term health, Newey left observers in no doubt as to his feelings on a torrid start to the season.

    That however is not thought to be behind Newey looking for a new Team Principal, as is thought to have been leading the process for as long as he has been in that very role and it is coincidental that Aston Martin’s start has been as bad as it has.

    Formula One being Formula One, this does increase the spotlight on an already beleaguered partnership with the team 11th in the Constructors’ Championship following well documented inabilities to get the car to the finish.

    While this is undoubtedly going to create even more noise around the team, it does not alter or solve Aston Martin’s current problems with the engine and understanding of its car, and while Honda have made progress in identifying the root cause of its well known vibrations that could still take months to get on top of.

  • Aston Martin Reveal the AMR 23

    Aston Martin Reveal the AMR 23

    Aston Martin Formula One have revealed their 2023 car: the AMR 23.

    The car is very similar to their 2022 car with an evolution from last year’s car. It comes in at 798Kilograms. Speaking about the AMR 23, the technical director Dan Fallowes said that it’s  a “significant development” from the car we saw in the latter stages of 2022.

    Aero:

    As for the aero side of the AMR 23, the sidepods do have an angle which is more depth compared to the AMR22. There will also be more airflow which made the AMR22 one of the most reliable cars of 2022.
    90% of parts were changes due to aero.

    Floor:

    The floor side of the AMR23 has had some changes, primarily due to the FIA’s changes of regulations which state that the floor must be rise by 15mm to reduce porpoising.

    Safety:

    There are some safety changes which have been made to the AMR 23. The

    role hoop has been made stronger. These changes were made by the FIA after Zhou Guanyu’s horrific crash at Silverstone in 2022. The mirrors have also has an increase in size due to the portpoising and the large 18-inch wheels.

    A Comparison between Aston Martin’s cars from 2022 and 2023. Image Credit to Formula One on Twitter.

    Speaking about the future, Aston Martin Formula 1 Chairman Lawrence Stroll said “This year’s move into our new state-of-the-art factory is more than just a serious statement of intent: it will considerably strengthen and empower every single individual in this organisation, helping us to deliver on our ambition to narrow the gap to the front of the grid and, in time, become genuine championship frontrunners.”

    The team principal Mike Krack said ” For this year, our aim must be to build a car that can fully deliver on its performance potential from the first moment it hits the track.

    “Making a strong start to the year, and then maintaining that momentum, is necessary if we are to make further advances towards the front of the grid. And, as an organisation, we are working hard to achieve that, and to further strengthen all areas of the team.””

    Dan Fallows said: “AMR23 is a significant development of the car we refined in the latter half of 2022 – and we have improved it in every critical area. It optimises the solutions we felt would offer us the most performance, and it embodies the joint vision we have embraced and have built together over the recent months.”

    One of the newest recruits to the Aston Martin F1 family Fernando Alonso said: I have always said that I could see the ambition that shines bright at AMF1. And, as we launch the car in this brand-new factory, I think everyone can now see the scale of the ambition and determination at the heart of this organisation.

    “Just as important is the car – and the AMR23 looks incredibly neatly packaged and highly efficient. I was pleasantly surprised when I sampled last year’s car for the very first time, and I think there is plenty of performance we can unlock together.”

    Lance Stroll, said Looking at AMR23, I can see lots of new thinking and some aggressive work around the packaging and aerodynamics that should really help us out as we head into year two of these new rules.”

    Aston Martin will be running the AMR23 at Silverstone on Wednesday 15th February. With Lance starting in the morining and Fernando running in the afternoon.