Fernando Alonso jokes Adrian Newey ‘touching the car’ sparked revival

Fernando Alonso quipped that Adrian Newey physically touching his Aston Martin F1 car sparked the team’s late-season revival.

Alonso enjoyed a strong final race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing sixth.

That result propelled Alonso into the top 10 of the drivers’ championship for the first time this year, moving ahead of Isack Hadjar.

While it’s been a disappointing campaign overall for Aston Martin, Alonso has been one of the standout performers on the 2025 grid.

Alonso also whitewashed Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll in qualifying.

This is the third time in his F1 career he has gone unbeaten in qualifying against a teammate over an entire season.

Alonso beat Nelson Piquet Jr. 18-0 in qualifying during their time together at Renault in 2008.

The Spaniard also remained unbeaten against Stoffel Vandoorne in qualifying during 2018.

Reflecting on his sixth-place finish in Abu Dhabi, Alonso told F1 TV: “I think a very strong race for us. As you said, sometimes on Saturday we are fast but then on Sunday we seem to lose a bit of competitiveness. It was not the case today. We were fast today.

“Seventh in Qatar, sixth here. It was definitely a strong final part of the championship.”

Newey influence?

Ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, Newey was announced as Aston Martin’s new team principal for 2026.

Newey joined the team as managing technical partner last year, spearheading their design group.

Aston Martin decided to restructure their management team, with Andy Cowell focusing on Honda’s integration within the operation.

Newey will take charge of day-to-day duties from next year.

The former Red Bull designer was in Qatar overseeing Aston Martin’s efforts at the penultimate round of the season.

Alonso joked that Newey’s presence – and physical touch – was the reason behind their strong end to the year.

“No idea. I mean Adrian came to Qatar,” Alonso replied when asked about Aston Martin’s resurgence.

When it was pointed out that Newey wasn’t in Abu Dhabi, he said: “I know. He touched the car in Qatar. Maybe still something on it, the last lap here. Honestly, it depends track to track. We saw all championship long.

“Imola we were already strong. Budapest we were two-tenths from pole and finished fifth, and some of the races we were out of Q1. It has been up and down. We lacked consistency this year and a bit of performance. We want to fix these things for next year.”