Fernando Alonso has denied the decision to promote Adrian Newey to Aston Martin Team Principal was due to the side’s poor on-track performance in Formula 1.
The Silverstone-based squad endured a challenging campaign, dropping to seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, behind Racing Bulls and Williams.
After its best season in 2023, Aston has regressed results-wise, with Alonso’s fifth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix his and the team’s best finish this year.
The team had been led across the campaign by Andy Cowell, who took over from Mike Krack, with Newey formally taking up his role as Managing Technical Partner in March.
But Newey was then surprisingly announced as Team Principal from 2026 onwards, with Cowell shuffled across into the role of Chief Strategy Officer.
This could lead to suggestions that the powers that be, namely Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll, made the decision based on the team’s poorer performances this year.
But whilst admitting the results aren’t what they want to challenge for, Alonso disagreed that this was the case.
“No, I don’t think so,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “2025 is a challenging season for us, no doubts. But to be honest, this is not removing the long-term view of the team.
“The situation we are in is what it is. We are fighting for just the last few points in some races and we are not happy with that.
“But this is not really influencing any decision or any big change in the team.”
Aston Martin drivers ‘in the loop’ but ‘have no power’ on key decisions
Newey’s hard work has been constant since taking up with the team, disregarding much of the 2025 car to focus solely on the AMR26, the car to tackle the new era.
The famed technical guru has also already denied that being team boss is something that will increase his workload, saying he “may as well” given he would be at all the races.
Alonso revealed that the decision to replace Cowell with Newey was not a shock, as Stroll often communicates and socialises with him.
“Lawrence is talking to us regularly, once a week on the phone, and when he comes to the races, every day we have lunch or dinner together,” he explained.
“So we are always in the loop, let’s say, on what Lawrence thinks. [He] asks opinions on what will be best for the team, what is missing. So we are very involved always on everything that they are thinking.
“Obviously, we don’t have any power of decisions, but they keep us informed. So this was slowly coming up, that Lawrence was thinking about this thing.”
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