David Coulthard has described Aston Martin giving Adrian Newey the team principal role as an “own goal”, and believes it was “never going to work”.

Newey became the fourth different team principal of Aston Martin in five years, taking over the role after former Mercedes High Performance Powertrains boss Andy Cowell was shifted aside to become chief strategy officer.

Newey is regarded as one of the greatest designers in F1 history, with his cars having taken 14 drivers’ and 12 constructors’ titles, most recently in 2024 with Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

But Newey has rarely been thrust into the spotlight, and nor has he sought to be, which meant that more than a few eyebrows were raised when he was announced in the lead role at Aston Martin.

Among those confused by this, was Coulthard, who had worked alongside Newey at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull.

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“I, having spent most of my career working with Adrian, would never have seen him as a team principal,” said Coulthard on the Up to Speed podcast.

“He is technically driven, he’s a racer, he is a problem solver from a technical point of view.

“The politics of Formula 1, which is what the team principal has to deal with a lot, and the politics which are sometimes created with the media as well, is not at all; and especially at Adrian’s stage of life in his 60s. You’ll find as you go through the decades, there are certain things that you’re prepared to do that you’re not prepared to do as you get a bit older, because you’ve got less runway ahead than behind.”

Speculation quickly grew in March that Newey was not long for the role, with then-Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley linked with a move. Not long after the rumours built, Audi confirmed that Wheatley had left the team for personal reasons, “with immediate effect”.

Three weeks on, and short of owner Lawrence Stroll issuing a rare statement, clarifying that the team does not run with a traditional team principal role, the leadership of Aston Martin remains a point of discussion.

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Addressing Stroll’s statement, Coulthard added: “That is a long term play, so I’m curious beyond the statement that we got from Lawrence Stroll that was reaffirming that Adrian is a partner in the team, he’s got a shareholding and they’re going forward together with the original plan, I think it’s just a readdressing of what was a short-term, and actually, what has turned out to be a bit of a PR own goal, because it created a scenario of questioning from the majority of people who were questioning, ‘does that really work?’.

“Now, it’s kind of like, as we thought, it was never going to work.” 

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