What Adrian Newey as team principal means for Aston Martin

In a shock turn of events, Aston Martin announced on Wednesday that Adrian Newey will become their team principal in 2026.

This decision sent shockwaves around the F1 world, with other names like Andreas Seidl floated as potential replacements for Andy Cowell – whose position was reported as being on the verge of change at the beginning of the week.

However, Lawrence Stroll has taken the choice to make Adrian Newey team principal. This gives the 66-year-old, who was already in charge of development, a new title to underline his importance to the project.

After reported disagreements behind the scenes, Cowell has been reassigned as Head Strategy Officer. This role will see the former Mercedes engineer put greater emphasis on overseeing Honda’s engine development.

Aston Martin reveal Newey and Cowell re-shuffle

The last eighteen months have seen a great many senior figures walk through the doors of Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory.

Andy Cowell was undoubtedly among them, bringing a wealth of experience and winning record from his time at Mercedes. He was widely seen as the final piece of the puzzle – joining a few months after Newey’s announcement.

This is largely why Aston Martin’s new direction comes a such an important development.

It adds another level of uncertainty about the team’s ability to incorporate so many big names in their hierarchy. After all, Newey becoming team principal – in the eyes of some – could distract him from the pursuit of performance.

The new leadership structure at Silverstone was explained in Aston Martin’s official statement:

“Over the past 14 months, Andy Cowell has led the Team as CEO and Team Principal in implementing the much-needed structural changes to support the transition to a full works team, in readiness for the new regulations in 2026.

“Having successfully laid the foundations, Andy Cowell will take a new role as Chief Strategy Officer, reporting to Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll.

“Given his unparalleled experience and expertise in working on power units, Andy will help optimise the technical partnerships between the Team, Honda, Aramco and Valvoline and will work closely with the Team’s partners to ensure the seamless integration of the Team’s new PU, fuel and chassis.

“As Managing Technical Partner, Adrian Newey will be responsible for guiding the technical team, including the trackside operations of the car, and will take on the additional role of Team Principal from 2026.”

What it means for Aston’s 2026 chances

As previously explained, Newey as team principal is a significant change – at least on paper. The British engineer has never been especially fond of the political aspects of Formula 1.

With that said, it should be noted that the 66-year-old is unlikely to be a conventional team principal. No doubt, he will attend several Grand Prix next year and make big decisions in terms of development.

Still, it must be underlined that some of the traditional responsibilities of a team principal will be delegated elsewhere. Mike Krack, for example, is likely to take responsibility for trackside operations throughout 2025.

Moreover, Newey’s work is essentially unchanged from now until the start of the 2026 season. As Managing Technical Partner, he was already at the helm of every performance-related decision at Silverstone.

This will continue for the next few months until the season opener in Australia. Only then will the effectiveness of Aston Martin’s new approach become more clear.

Main photo: Zak Mauger/LAT Images (Aston Martin Media Gallery)