Adrian Newey can be a huge contributor to a great Aston Martin car, but he can’t be the team’s “silver bullet”, according to Sebastian Vettel.
However, Vettel explained that Newey’s racing obsession means that, in the right environment, he can make a major impact.
Adrian Newey: A key cog in the Aston Martin machine?
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Vettel has proposes that legendary F1 car designer and his former Red Bull colleague Adrian Newey can be a pivotal contributor at Aston Martin, but not the one answer to all its problems.
Vettel won his four titles in Red Bull machinery designed under Newey’s watch before leading the team in 2014 for Ferrari, and ultimately ended his racing career at Aston Martin.
Newey joined Aston Martin as a part-owner, following his own Red Bull departure in 2024, and is regarded as a key ingredient in the team’s efforts to become a championship contender.
“I’ve been in this paddock for a long time in my life, and everybody is trying to find that silver bullet. Nobody’s ever found it. It doesn’t exist,” Vettel told the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“The magic in Formula 1 starts to happen when everything comes together.
“Of course, you can argue drivers have a unique position because they drive the car and ultimately need to get it right. And then there is other people within a team that are really key in getting the performances.
“Adrian is certainly one of them.
“But also, Adrian needs to be in the right environment.
“I haven’t seen him in a while, but he’s been such a long time with Red Bull, the chance is definitely there that it sparked something in him to really take on that challenge, which I know he’s mentioned and so on.
“But I think he does have a quality that not many people have. He is obsessed with racing. He loves racing. He really is like a child when it comes to motor racing, and that’s the biggest driver you can have.
“So, if Aston is able to provide the landscape, the surrounding, for him to find that, to unleash that, then, yeah, he can be, not a silver bullet, but a huge contributor to a great car.”
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The F1 2026 season brings together for the first time a host of elements that have been put in place over recent years.
There have been impressive and expansive new facilities constructed at the team’s base, and a long recruitment drive to attract top talent – Newey among them.
Not only will the coming season see Aston Martin field battle its first Newey-designed car, the team also begins a new alliance with Honda as its engine partner.
Those elements combined have seen the squad fingered as something of a dark horse courtesy of the reset due to the all-new regulations that come into play this season.
“I think there’s more than one dark horse next year, because you don’t know what’s going to happen with the regs, and how teams will interpret them, which is also the exciting bit,” Vettel stated.
“Then there’s always the argument, the strongest team now will have the strongest chance of succeeding with the big rule change, because they have the strongest organisation. So you could argue McLaren is a favourite.
“Then it largely depends on the power unit as well, how that pans out.
“But it’s going to be the big teams, and Aston could be, I think… Just from a resources point of view, I know, because I’ve seen the project when they started, and now they are sort of finished. They do take time to really fall into place, with a new tunnel, the factory, the sim, and the partnership with Honda as well.
“And Honda doesn’t come out of the box. They’ve had now all these years of experience.
“So yeah, I think the ingredients are there, and the ingredients have been there for a while, but you see also how hard it is to make it click.
“I mean, 2023, they had a fantastic open of the season, and then struggling a little bit towards the end. Then ’24 and ’25 was difficult for them.
“So, yeah, the resources are there. The people are there. Why not?”
Aston Martin continues with the driver pairing of two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, three times a podium finisher, going into F1 2026.
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