Christian Horner believes Adrian Newey’s opening stint at Aston Martin is much like when he began working for Red Bull in Formula 1.
Newey joined the Red Bull project in early 2006 and led the Milton-Keynes-based to much success alongside Horner.
The duo helped the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen to four consecutive F1 World Titles each, and secured six Constructors’ triumphs for Red Bull.
But Horner has recently revealed that despite Newey’s reputation coming into the team, there was some pushback to the methods of the legendary aerodynamicist.
“There was a pushback when I recruited Adrian and convinced him to come,” Horner told Autosport.
“There was a feeling, certainly within the old guard of the former Jaguar group, ‘well, Adrian’s going to have to fit into our way of working’. And I thought, ‘no, you’re going to have to fit in with his way of working’.
“As far as I was concerned Adrian had won over 100 races at that time, and Jaguar had won none. So I was going to lean into Adrian and build the group around what he felt was required and what he needed to get the most out of him.”
Why Christian Horner feels ‘history is repeating itself’ with Newey at Aston Martin
Newey’s first season in charge of the Silverstone-based team has not gotten off to a flying start.
Aston Martin have been struggling for results, and much of it has come down to a deficient chassis and a works Honda PU concept at the start of the season.
And while the team has made improvements on the aerodynamics side of things, Honda are yet to up their game compared to their rivals.
Horner believes that the slow start to Newey’s Aston Martin era is reminiscent of how the Briton took his own time to set Red Bull up on the right path.
“Well, it feels like, from the outside looking, it’s just history repeating itself,” he added.
“He’s obviously gone to Aston and ought to work in the manner that he’s used to.
“And they’ve obviously not been ready or equipped for that, so he’s no doubt in the process of trying to structure that.”
Up next for Newey and Aston Martin is the revered Circuit of the Americas for the 2026 US GP.
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