Aston Martin ambassador and former Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa has revealed how Adrian Newey’s leadership skills has ensured the team’s ability to turn the corner across the season.
The Silverstone-based squad began the season under a seismic cloud, with Newey at the forefront of a media storm that engulfed the team at the opening round in Australia.
After pre-season testing, when it became apparent that the AMR26 and the accompanying Honda power unit were both fraught with problems, Newey went somewhat nuclear with an honest assessment.
The Aston Team Principal admitted that the engine’s batteries were causing extreme vibration within the chassis, putting both Fernando Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll at risk of “permanent nerve damage.”
Subsequent work at both Silverstone and Sakura rapidly got underway, and within a further two races, the vibrations were solved, and Alonso was able to see the chequered flag at Suzuka.
Newey has also admitted since that the development of the AMR26 had also been late, putting them on the backfoot, but the results of the hard work have been clear to see.
A large upgrades suite brought to Hungary saw Alonso accomplish the team’s first Q2 appearance of the season, and after a further PU upgrade via Honda’s qualification for ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities], slow but steady progress has been evident.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week at last week’s Spanish Grand Prix, de la Rosa offered an explanation of some of the key reasons behind the AMR26’s late arrival.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just that our expectations were so high for this 26 [season],” the Spaniard said. “But then you look from a very rational way, and you realise that Adrian arrived 2nd of March, I think it was, in 2025, so already when the whole 26 campaign had started.
“And then we had this fantastic new wind tunnel that was commissioned, but it was not fully operational until one month after Adrian arrived, so everything started like three to four months too late.
“Then you look at Honda, and Honda also started the whole programme, having decided to withdraw from Formula 1 and then decided to come back. So all in all, if you look at it from a very whole rational point of view, we started late in many, in key aspects, you know.
“And therefore, I think that we’re just catching up. But we’re catching up at a good pace, because we really know now with all these new elements, new talent, new tools available to us, that we know what to do.”
Adrian Newey – the key to Aston Martin ‘remaining calm and united’
2026 may be, on paper, a blot on Newey’s copybook, given it will likely be his first season since 1989 that a car he had been involved with that has not scored a podium finish.
But the circumstances he has entered with Aston may have been somewhat different to any in which he has entered with any other team he previously joined up with.
And as far as de la Rosa is concerned, Newey’s presence has been key to the team’s collective ‘fight’ over ‘flight’ attitude to remedying the issues at the start of the season.
“I think that it’s the fact that it’s not only about infrastructure or having a campus, a simulator and a wind tunnel – I think that talent is the most important of them all,” he said. “And we have the talent and that is clear. The fact that Adrian is such a great leader has also helped us massively in remaining calm and united.
“Because we knew we had his leadership. And if Adrian and Enrico [Cardile, Chief Technical Officer], to be fair, wouldn’t have been here, it would have been more difficult, more challenging.
“But having them on board has been critical, I would say, and very, very positive.”
Aston will be hoping for further encouragement in the work it has implemented over the season next weekend, as F1 returns for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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