Well, this is Big News. Adrian Newey, a lightly successful Formula One designer you might not have heard of, has just been announced as the new team boss of Aston Martin’s Formula One team. He’ll sit in the Big Important F1 Boss Chair from next season.
And he’d only just got comfy in his also new Big Important F1 Design Boss Chair, having made a blockbuster move from Red Bull Racing to Aston… just as an entirely new set of F1 regulations are set to kick in. Loves a regulation change, does our Adrian.
His appointment means the current team boss Andy Cowell—who moved over from Mercedes having spent the latter half of the 2010s winning everything with Lewis and Nico—will now take on the new role of ‘chief strategy officer’, reporting into Really Big Important Boss Lawrence Stroll.
Stroll, you’ll know, owns the team. His kid, Lance, drives in it, alongside Fernando Alonso.
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“As managing technical partner,” said Aston, “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.” So, not that much responsibility, then.
Here’s what the big man had to say: “Over the last nine months, I have seen great individual talent within our team.
“I'm looking forward to taking on this additional role as we put ourselves in the best possible position to compete in 2026, where we will face an entirely new position with Aston Martin now a works team, combined with the considerable challenge faced by the new regulations,” Newey added.
Big news indeed. Roll on, 2026…
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
