Adrian Newey focus isn’t on F1 2025 despite Lance Stroll’s grim verdict

Aston Martin have clarified exactly where Adrian Newey is focusing his energy.

The signing of Newey last year was heralded as the greatest coup possible inside today’s Formula 1 paddock, even including star drivers like Max Verstappen.

Newey, widely perceived as the best F1 car designer ever, started work at Aston Martin last month after leaving Red Bull, where he had overseen two dominant eras.

Bringing Newey in as Managing Technical Partner gives Aston Martin a major boost for 2026 and beyond, when the new F1 regulations begin.

But until then, the team must navigate through a tricky start to this season. Fernando Alonso has zero points after four rounds.

Lance Stroll said after finishing 17th at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix: “We are not where we want to be at the moment and we are pushing hard to change that.

“The track characteristics in Jeddah are quite different so let's see how we do there, although we are not expecting any big jumps."

Adrian Newey's 'designing time' is clarified

However, Newey will not be helping to develop Aston Martin’s package for 2025.

"100% of Adrian's designing time is on 2026," team principal Andy Cowell confirmed at this weekend’s F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

"He joined in March. So there was a period of him getting up to speed with the regulations and up to speed with the concept work we were doing in the preceding couple of months.

"There are some tough deadlines to meet for releasing monocoque details, transmission details.

“And the cars are running earlier for the 2026 season with the test at the end of January.

"Getting a car ready for that point requires slightly earlier decision points. Clearly everything is new, and there is zero carry-over.

"There is a lot of work there. Adrian has just been focused on that. But there is value in Adrian understanding the tools we've got, the fidelity of those tools and the precision with which they predict what is going to happen on the race-track, rather than any direct performance aspect for the 2025 car.

"He has been hugely complimentary about the campus, and has been positive about the tunnel we got, and the way that everything has been set-up.

"He is, of course, pushing for us to improve the way we operate in the tunnel, the way we operate with CFD and lap simulations."