Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll share their thoughts on Adrian Newey taking on F1 team principal role at Aston Martin, with Max Verstappen chiming in.
Ahead of the F1 Qatar GP, Aston Martin dropped in a surprise news of restructure at the top with Newey taking additional role of team principal from Andy Cowell. The Brit is to be shifted to be the link on the power unit side, with the arrival of Honda as a works unit.
Cowell would bridge the chassis department with Honda, Aramco and Valvoline to ease the load on Newey, who would look after the F1 team trackside alongside Andy Stevenson. There was no information shared about Mike Krack’s role, who has been helping out Cowell in trackside work.
The news came as a surprise as noted considering the hot rumour about Christian Horner and Andreas Seidl being linked to the role just after the Las Vegas GP. With Newey more a technical leader, it is a big ask to look after the management side of things, which requires different expertise.
Newey shared some information about the move in Qatar when speaking with Sky Sports F1. The Brit noted the need to Cowell to take a back seat from trackside work and form the three-way bridge, especially with the arrival of Honda. The expertise on power unit was key in the decision.
This left the team principal role vacant where Newey opted to take it up, considering his travel schedule in early part of the F1 2026. The Brit isn’t scheduled to see-through all of the races trackside. “To be perfectly honest, it became very evident that with the challenges of the 2026 power unit that helping the three-way relationship between Honda, Aramco and ourselves is Andy’s skillset,” he said.
“He very magnanimously volunteered to be heavily involved in that through the first part of 2026. That left us with, ‘who is going to be team principal?’ I was going to be doing the early races anyway so it doesn’t particularly change my workload. I may as well pick up that bit. What gets me out of bed in the morning [is design and development] so I am determined not to dilute that.”
His information hinted the announced restructure as a temporary move. Although both Alonso and Stroll highlighted that it was not something new but was brewing behind the scenes for some time. They were not surprised by the decision. They had indications already of the potential move.
But neither of them discuss anything on the team principal side when talking with Newey. It is always about the car and what can be done to be at the top of the field from 2026 onward. The Brit joined the list of growing F1 team principals with technical background rather than managerial.
It remains to be seen if he can be the traditional team principal considering his workload on the technical side or his role be shared with someone within or hired from outside. Verstappen, meanwhile, welcomed the move, even though he never thought that Newey would do something like this.
How Newey thing came about –
Fernando Alonso: “Not really. I mean, we were discussing more technical stuff about the car than any other thing of future dreams. But yeah, I mean, it’s good news. He was anyway managing in a way the technical development of the car, but also the team. The people that was needed, and taking care of which areas we need to reinforce the team, which other areas were less important. So in a way, he was doing internally, a lot of management. And Andy was doing a lot of management as well, on the engine side and engine integration to the chassis.
“So I mean, it was maybe a normal logic step into 2026. So we have probably the two best people, doing one the chassis, and one the team, one the engine integration, and the team as well. And we have a very strong leader with Lawrence, with the determination that Lawrence has and the commitment that he’s shown, for many, many years already. So, between the three of them, I think we are in good hands. So, let’s move into 2026 with hopefully a better car.”
Lance Stroll: “I think so. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So, Adrian Newey, so it’s positive. Well, it’s a, a restructure in the company, so these things happen. Yeah, it’s for the better of the whole company.”
How he came to know –
Alonso: “I mean, Lawrence is talking to us regularly, once a week on the phone. And when he comes to the races every day, we have lunch or dinner together. So we are always in the loop, let’s say, on what Lawrence thinks and ask opinions on what will be best for the team, what is missing. So we are very involved always on everything that they are thinking. Obviously, we don’t have any power of decisions, but they keep us informed. So, this was slowly coming up, that Lawrence was thinking about this thing.”
Stroll: “I don’t get surprised in this business. I think every day something’s happening. Yeah, like I said, positive for, for everybody at Aston. I mean, just talking a little bit about next year’s car and the regulation change and the challenges going into 2026. Yeah, just that kind of stuff [that I talk with him].”
Why Newey, what can he bring –
Alonso: “No, he’s not [going to attend all races]. I think with Adrian, there is only one style, which is performance. There is no other word. There is just the unlimited search for performance and perfection. Great competitor, great leader. So I think, the whole team, which is not that we are not into the performance direction now, but I think with Adrian, it will be even more extreme. So, if we can embrace that approach, from everybody, we cannot forget this team is still, very new.
“The base of the team is 300 people or whatever of the old days. And now, the team grew up so quickly in the last two or three years. So a lot of our employees are new to the sport, are young, energetic people that we need, the guidance of Adrian or these great leaders that we have to teach them, what is the way to succeed in Formula 1. And we have the two most successful individuals ever in the sport, Andy Cowell and Adrian Newey.”
Stroll: “Well, I mean, it’s kind of already…yeah, I mean, a lot of the stuff that’s been happening at the factories, Adrian’s in charge of the car design, but also heavily involved in the culture of the team and getting the most out of everyone that has a part of contributing and building the car. So it’s a performance-driven business.
“Yeah, I mean, Adrian’s all about performance so, I think it’s just like I said, it’s positive. I guess it’s more of a question for Adrian, but, I mean, at the end, like I said before, it’s a performance-driven business and all we’re focused on is trying to be the best team we can on track. The rest is not as important as that.”
A technical guru, can perform trackside –
Alonso: “No, I think we have a strong team also here at the racetrack. Some people with a lot of experience, Andy Stevenson, we have great race engineers, performance engineers, strategy between Lance and myself, you know, 35 years experience between both of us. It’s not that we are lacking on the race team experience or needs or vision of what is needed to succeed. So, I’m not concerned about that. We just need a fast car next year.”
If you can be driver and team principal –
Alonso: “Doesn’t football happen? In the old days, I remember, who was? An Italian guy in Chelsea or something like that? Yeah, yeah, Chelsea. Yeah, it was a player and then a coach. So yeah, I think enough with driving. But, I mean, as I said, we have a very strong bond in the team. We are very united. The team is just, in the process of building something special for the next years. Now, with a new factory completed, with a wind tunnel, with all these names that we are talking now, it’s just, small adjustments to make it as efficient as possible. And then we go racing, so we can wait.”
If bad 2025 swayed decision –
Alonso: “No, I don’t think so. I think, 2025 is a challenging season for us, no doubts. But to be honest, this is not removing the long-term view of the team. This is the situation we are in, it’s what it is. We are fighting for just the last few points in some races and we are not happy with that. But this is not really influencing any decision or any big change in the team.”
Thoughts of Max Verstappen –
“It’s probably something that you see in more teams, right? That someone more technical is taking on the role of team boss. And I guess Aston is going the same way. I mean, you have to ask them, of course, why they opted to do it. But that’s my, I think, logical explanation behind that. So yeah, I’m happy to see that. I don’t know, of course, how much that will change in the involvement of the car for Adrian. But yeah, I’m sure he will do well. Time will tell, right? I mean, I don’t know.
“I mean, I’ve never spoken to Adrian about it. It was never an option at Red Bull, of course, as well. So I don’t know what the ambition was or whatever, but I’m happy for him, like he’s in a different team environment now. And of course, I cannot look into the team as well, why or how or the reason why he got promoted. I don’t know. But I’m just sitting here and enjoying it, happy for him. And I hope that the team will benefit of his knowledge at the end of the day.”
Here’s news from Aston Martin on Adrian Newey
