Adrian Newey explains Aston Martin design secrets breakthrough

Adrian Newey has opened up for the first time on a car that became the talk of last week's Barcelona test, despite it only completing 65 laps.

It was not until the final hour on the fourth day of the private five-day shakedown that the AMR26 broke cover, and it immediately raised eyebrows with what was perceived as an aggressive design philosophy.

RacingNews365's technical expert, Paolo Filisetti, described the car as "a radical departure from every rival design", given what he noticed in many different areas.

Newey, who joined Aston Martin last March as managing technical partner before becoming team principal in November, has conceded that for the first time since the team returned to F1, the car "is tightly packaged - much more tightly packaged than I believe has been attempted...before".

Speaking in an interview on the Aston Martin website, he added: "This has required a very close working relationship with the mechanical designers to achieve the aerodynamic shapes we wanted.

"But I have to say that all the mechanical designers here have really embraced that philosophy. It hasn't made their life easy, quite the opposite, but they've really risen to the challenge."

Newey has shied away from pointedly describing the AMR26 as an aggressive interpretation of the new regulations that have come into effect for this season.

Although renowed for his aggressive designs during his 19 years with Red Bull, Newey conceded: "I never look at any of my designs as aggressive. I just get on with things and pursue what we feel is the right direction.

"The direction we've taken could certainly be interpreted as aggressive. It's got quite a few features that haven't necessarily been done before. Does that make it aggressive? Possibly. Possibly not."

Aston Martin hit with 'back-foot fight'

Newey has stated that "a holistic approach" was taken with the design of the car, openly revealing that even he cannot claim to be sure on "what the best interpretation of the regulations is and therefore the best philosophy to follow".

He said: "Because of our compressed timescale, we decided on a particular direction and that’s the one we've pursued. Whether that proves to be the right one or not, only time will tell. But you have to choose your path and get on with it."

Breaking down the design, he added: "It starts with the overall packaging of the car: where is the car carried over the wheelbase, where are the main masses carried.

"Then it's worked through to the front and rear suspension – the front and rear suspension both have their own very important part to play in that manipulation of the flow field.

"You've got the front wing and the nose shape, which are somewhat different this year. You keep moving through to the sidepods, and the treatment around the rear of the car, which is certainly different to what we've done previously.

"Now, whether other people come up with a similar solution to ours, we don't know and we won't until we start seeing other people's cars.

"We've just tried to pursue what we think is the correct direction for us. Other people might have pursued other directions. It's part of the excitement of new regulations, seeing what everybody comes up with."

Part of the issues surrounding the car for Newey is that he did not start work with the team until two months after the regulations were first published.

That had a knock-on effect, which placed Aston Martin behind the development curve compared to its rivals, and led to its late arrival for the shakedown in Barcelona.

"The reality is that we didn’t get a model of the '26 car into the wind tunnel until mid-April, whereas most, if not all of our rivals would have had a model in the wind tunnel from the moment the 2026 aero testing ban ended at the beginning of January last year," remarked Newey.

"That put us on the back foot by about four months, which has meant a very, very compressed research and design cycle. The car only came together at the last minute, which is why we were fighting to make it to the Barcelona shakedown."