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<\/a><\/p>\nSpeaking to Aston Martin\u2019s website ahead of the British Grand Prix, Newey admitted the Silverstone-based squad had been on the back foot from the beginning of Formula 1\u2019s new rules era.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtremely challenging,\u201d Newey said of Aston Martin\u2019s season so far.<\/p>\n
\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-April.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat left us several months behind our rivals \u2013 and that\u2019s a huge gap to close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aston Martin entered 2026 with high expectations after Newey\u2019s arrival and the start of its works partnership with Honda, but its campaign has been hampered by limited running, power unit issues, excess weight and aerodynamic problems.<\/p>\n
Newey said the scale of the task became clear at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where Aston Martin had its first meaningful running after a disrupted pre-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cMelbourne was the wake-up call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newey also admitted the AMR26 had been compromised by the speed of its development, with weight one of the major issues.<\/p>\n
![\"Fernando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/XPB_1420564_HiRes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso has only scored one point in 2026 so far. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the chassis side, we\u2019re quite a long way overweight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you design in a rush, weight is the first thing that suffers because you don\u2019t have the time to thoroughly optimise everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newey explained that Aston Martin had resisted bringing smaller updates race by race, and was instead focused on a larger package that he confirmed would arrive at the Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe plan to introduce our upgrade in Hungary on both cars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main structural elements remain the same \u2013 the chassis and gearbox architecture don\u2019t fundamentally change \u2013 but we\u2019ve taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe front suspension is unchanged. The rear suspension is slightly revised. We\u2019ve developed a new nose and substantially revised aerodynamic surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, while the core structure is similar, it\u2019s a big aerodynamic package coupled with significant weight reduction. The target is to get very close to the weight limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newey added Aston Martin is expecting a significant gain, though he stopped short of putting a number on the improvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re predicting a large step, but I\u2019m reluctant to put specific numbers out there. We\u2019ll have to see when the car gets on track,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The update could also prove important for Fernando Alonso, whose future beyond 2026 remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
Newey said the two-time world champion wants to see evidence Aston Martin is moving in the right direction before committing to another season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very important,\u201d Newey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFernando is really looking forward to the upgrade and, if it performs we hope he\u2019ll be in the cockpit for another season.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven his experience, his feel for the car, his ability to guide development, he\u2019s a tremendous asset.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he wants to see clear, tangible progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 67-year-old also addressed his health after a \u201cdifficult period\u201d, saying he is now in better shape after having to manage his workload.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m OK now, but it\u2019s been a difficult period. As I said earlier, it never rains but it pours.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn truth, I was not 100 per cent last year. I had to balance health and work much more carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adrian Newey has opened up on Aston Martin’s difficult season. Image: XPB Images Speaking to Aston Martin\u2019s website…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[55009,55010,55740,111,139,69,216,213],"class_list":["post-504394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adrian-newey","tag-aston-martin","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-slot3","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Newey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/XPB_1412391_HiRes.jpg\")