Formula 1 driver turned commentator/pundit Martin Brundle has said Aston Martin must be wary of falling short of lofty expectations following its signing of Adrian Newey.
Newey was announced Tuesday as Aston’s Managing Technical Partner and will take up post in March 2025, ending his successful association with Red Bull.
The Briton will bring with him 25 F1 world titles worth of expertise to Aston Martin as he becomes a shareholder in owner Lawrence Stroll’s team.
Coupled with state-of-the-art facilities plus impressive partnerships with Honda and Aramco, many see Stroll’s signing of Newey as a win-or-bust gesture.
“If you’ve got Adrian Newey on board, and you don’t win? Then you’ve wasted Adrian Newey,” Brundle told Sky Sports.
“If you do win? Then it’s all about Adrian Newey.
“It’s a problem they’ve got to manage. Red Bull have been extremely good at using the genius of Adrian, and compartmentalising other aspects to make sure that they get the best from him.”
Brundle also weighed up further pros and cons to Newey joining Aston Martin, a large machine of an F1 squad with well-north of 1000 staff which already has a slate of technical leaders in Dan Fallows, Eric Blandin and the incoming Enrico Cardile.
However, despite Brundle referring to a “delicate” situation, Newey’s experience and prior work with the likes of Honda will work in Aston Martin’s favour.
“Adrian is 66 years old on Boxing Day,” Brundle explained. “He has a huge amount of success behind him.
“I’m sure this is his last roll of the dice with a big team, and he’ll want it to be a success.
“You can be sure that, for big picture stuff, he’s the man you want looking at it.
“Aston Martin, like other teams, have a long way north of 1,000 people and you need to keep them incentivised. They don’t want to be bit-part players.
“It’s a delicate operation to introduce Adrian into a team like that.
“But he’s worked with Honda while at Red Bull so will be helpful on that front. So will Andy Cowell, the ex-Mercedes man who is becoming CEO.
“He’ll have something in his head already about the really massive change of aerodynamics that go with the new power units of 2026.
“I’d be sure that, for big picture stuff, he’ll have critical ideas. He’ll just knock something in, here and there, that will make the difference.
“Also, he’s ruthless. If Adrian wants something, he’ll get it. Even if it seems impossible time-wise or budget-wise, he will persist until he gets what he knows is right.
“That’s why you need a team of some might to make the best use of him.”
