Adrian Newey has admitted Aston Martin\u2019s much-hyped start to Formula 1\u2019s new era has unravelled into a perfect storm of problems, leaving the team well short of expectations.<\/p>\n
Heading into Formula 1\u2019s new regulatory cycle with Honda powering the AMR26, much was expected of Aston Martin, which is operating under the guidance of new team principal and design legend, Newey.<\/p>\n
Adrian Newey explains Aston Martin\u2019s difficult 2026 season start<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n However, the design genius, who joined Aston Martin<\/a> in March 2025, has endured a very difficult start to his tenure as the team principal.<\/p>\n Aston Martin has scored a solitary point in the first eight race weekends to sit P10 in the constructors\u2019 championship<\/a> ahead of newcomers Cadillac.<\/p>\n While the Silverstone team\u2019s pre-season was blighted by vibration issues with its Honda engine, once the car got going, it was clear that the chassis had problems of its own. It was not only overweight, but also lacked downforce.<\/p>\n Aston Martin\u2019s gearbox has also made the car difficult to drive, according to Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.<\/p>\n Newey, who designs have won 26 championship titles, admitted it has been an \u201cextremely challenging\u201d start to the season.<\/p>\n He told Aston Martin\u2019s Undercut: \u201cOn both the chassis side and the power unit side, we\u2019ve been on the back foot from the start. In hindsight, we probably put too much expectation on ourselves \u2013 and of course, you must never forget the quality of the opposition you\u2019re up against across the grid.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t start serious work on the \u201926 car until mid-March 2025 and didn\u2019t get a model into the wind tunnel until mid\u2011April. That left us several months behind our rivals \u2013 and that\u2019s a huge gap to close.\u201d<\/p>\n However, it wasn\u2019t purely timing.<\/p>\n While the timing meant the AMR26 project was rushed from the start, Newey accepts the team fell short of expectations, with one of the biggest problems being that the chassis is overweight.<\/p>\n \u201cTiming was a huge part of it, but not the only part,\u201d he conceded.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a very talented group of people, but as an organisation we weren\u2019t yet working together as well as you would like and operating as one cohesive unit. Expectations were sky\u2011high, but the reality of where we were didn\u2019t match that.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the chassis side, we\u2019re quite a long way overweight. Some of that comes from integrating the power unit and dealing with vibration issues we\u2019ve had to work through with Honda, but we also didn\u2019t do as good a job as we should have on our side at saving weight. When you design in a rush, weight is the first thing that suffers because you don\u2019t have the time to thoroughly optimise everything.<\/p>\n \u201cAerodynamically, we also took a bold direction \u2013 which was largely pushed by me \u2013 without the luxury of exploring multiple concepts in depth because time was against us. I wouldn\u2019t say the direction we\u2019ve taken is fundamentally wrong, but it has thrown up challenges we didn\u2019t anticipate.\u201d<\/p>\n Challenges that included the Honda engine and the Aston Martin gearbox.<\/p>\n Newey says dealing with those issues during pre-season testing meant the team had little time to work on improving the chassis and aero package and went into the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on the back foot.<\/p>\n \u201cMelbourne was the wake\u2011up call,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of various power unit challenges, our first proper running was actually Free Practice Three at the Australian Grand Prix. <\/p>\n \u201cBefore that, in Barcelona and at the two Bahrain tests, we spent too much time in the garage just trying to get the power unit to run correctly with the chassis and gearbox.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know the idiom, \u2018it never rains, but it pours\u2019, and this is one of those classic cases where it felt like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Adrian Newey on PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n Adrian Newey lifts lid on health issues after Aston Martin absence<\/a><\/p>\n First Aston Martin AMR26 upgrade details confirmed as Adrian Newey sets date<\/a><\/p>\n Adrian Newey confirms \u2018major update before the August break\u2019<\/p>\n Aston Martin\u2019s struggles at the beginning of this season saw Newey take the decisive decision not to upgrade the car in small increments, but rather put a major update package on the track before the summer break.<\/p>\n That is scheduled to debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we all got over the initial shock of where we were, the reaction was actually very positive, and this is what really sticks in my mind,\u201d Newey explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole group pulled together around two clear priorities: first, to pull ourselves out of the hole with a major update before the August break; second, to build the foundations properly for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something every single one of us in the team should be proud of \u2013 the way we\u2019ve all pulled together.<\/p>\n \u201cYou walk around the AMR Technology Campus at night and the lights are still on. There are a lot of late evenings, a lot of motivation, and a real determination to prove that we can do this. We have the facilities, we have the people, we have huge amounts of talent. <\/p>\n \u201cThe task is to make it all gel \u2013 and to an extent, take the pressure off ourselves so we can breathe and concentrate on medium\u2011 and long\u2011term projects, not just the next race.<\/p>\n \u201cThat means not only solving our immediate aero and mechanical issues, but also introducing better systems and processes that underpin how we design and build the car.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n