Aston Martin reject Adrian Newey ‘dictator’ tag as early impact praised

Aston Martin F1 team principal Andy Cowell has dismissed suggestions that Adrian Newey operates as a ‘dictator’, praising the legendary car designer for his collaborative approach.

Newey started work at Aston Martin in March, joining them from Red Bull as their managing technical partner.

The 66-year-old will spearhead Aston Martin’s design team, focusing on next year.

Aston Martin will link up with Honda in 2026, effectively becoming a works team.

With Newey’s influence combined with the Honda partnership, Aston Martin hopes to move up the pecking order.

In an interview with Sky F1 during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, Cowell spoke about Newey’s early influence and his approach.

“He joined us at the beginning of March and he was just straight into understanding the regulations, the concept that’s been created so far by the team,” Cowell explained.

“He’s an engineer, he works with a drawing board, but he works exceptionally well in a small group where he’s just talking about the detail of the race car.

“It’s not in a sort of dictatorial way, it’s very much into the detail and explaining things from first principles.”

Newey signing “an exciting time for us”

In recent seasons, Aston Martin have started the year strongly before struggling with in-season development.

In 2023, Aston Martin were the second-fastest team behind Red Bull but slipped to fifth in the constructors’ standings by the end of the year.

It was a similar story last year, although Fernando Alonso wasn’t able to replicate his impressive run of podiums.

While Aston Martin started 2025 on the back foot, a recent upgrade at Imola appears to have turned their season around.

Alonso has consistently challenged for Q3 and points since then, finishing ‘best of the rest’ in Montreal.

Cowell revealed that Newey is even having an impact on this year, during race weekends.

“He’s looking at it down to everything to how to change the ride height in two minutes in between the sessions, so that we can adjust the car when we’re racing, he added.

“He’s got great experience, and it’s an exciting time for us.”