Fernando Alonso has ruled out Adrian Newey having a significant impact on Aston Martin’s Formula 1 prospects in 2025, instead believing the true change will come in time for 2026.
Newey was announced as Managing Technical Partner at Aston Martin, effective in March 2025, via a press conference on Tuesday at the team’s Silverstone campus.
The impact the Briton will have on the team will arguably be profound, given his championship pedigree, but Alonso believes Newey’s arrival is too late to bring a significant boost to Aston Martin’s 2025 prospects.
“I would like to say yes, but honestly, I don’t think so,” the Spaniard said during Thursday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix press conference.
“March ’25, I think the focus for most of the teams will be [the] ’26 project and change of regulations.
“If you start in March, until you know everybody and you know, you take place in the factories April or May, I don’t think that it’s really worth spending too much on the ’25 campaign unless you’re fighting for the championship, which I hope we have a nice surprise, but I doubt it.
“So I think the 26 project should be the first car that he has an influence.”
Aston Martin has a lot riding on 2026 being a success from a new wind tunnel that will come online in the coming New Year, a Honda works engine deal in time for the new power unit regulations and title partner Aramco broadening the squad’s knowledge on sustainable fuels.
Moreover, Newey joins an already extensive technical team and Alonso believes that the exciting signing shows Aston Martin is “the team of the future.”
Explaining further, the Spaniard added “we are just opening new buildings at the factory, building two is finished. The wind tunnel will be [online] in January, Honda [in 2026].
“Aramco [is the] best partner in the world probably, and now Adrian as well.
“I think the team is taking shape and Lawrence [Stroll’s] vision is taking shape.”
Stroll, like many team owners and decision-makers, made a bid to lure Newey to his squad when the Briton announced in the Spring that he’d be leaving Red Bull.
Alonso was also a part of that process but reiterated the fact that Aston Martin’s infrastructure and oncoming partners and tools did most of the heavy lifting in the recruitment process.
“I texted him for sure, and like everybody did probably, that I wanted to work with him,” he said.
“I saw him also at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix that he was racing that week as well, and we spent half an hour chatting as well.
“We all tried to persuade him and I think ultimately, I think Lawrence as I said, his vision, the new factory and what Aston Martin wants for the future together with Honda as well, were probably key factors listening to what Adrian said [Tuesday].”
Indeed, Newey spoke on the Aston Martin facility and reuniting with Honda as cause for enthusiasm once he starts working with the team in 2025.
“I think what Lawrence and Martin [Whitmarsh] have built here, these facilities are just stunning,” he said. “It’s not an easy thing to do to build a brand new factory in a greenfield site and have a really nice, warm, creative feel to it.
“I’ll be very pleased to stay working with Honda. I’ve really enjoyed working with them over the last six years at Red Bull. Great bunch of engineers, very easy to work with.”
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