Aston Martin buoyed by early 'Adrian effect' after Newey arrival

Aston Martin boss Andy Cowell has revealed how the team is already benefiting from the "Adrian effect" after Newey's arrival. 

The former Red Bull chief technical officer began work as managing technical partner at Aston on March 3rd, and is also now a shareholder in the team, with his focus largely being on the 2026 technical regulations set to introduce active aerodynamics to F1.

Aston has been investing heavily in facilities, with a brand-new state-of-the-art factory at its Silverstone campus, along with other big technical signings, including Enrico Cardile from Ferrari, although he is yet to start work. 

Reflecting on the 10 days Aston has been working with Newey, Cowell, himself the newly appointed team principal replacing Mike Krack, revealed the 'Adrian effect' sweeping the team.

"Adrian has been with us for 10 days now, and his first day was very low-key," Cowell told media including RacingNews365 in Melbourne ahead of the season-opener.

"He's an engineer, he's walked in and he's picking up the 2026 regulations, understanding those regulations and getting into the detail of the work that we've been doing, understanding that and contributing ideas. 

"The drawing board doesn't need firing up, it doesn't need plugging in, they just work and it is a joy to work with Adrian, his experience is vast, his hunger is huge.

"It is just wonderful conversations about making fast race cars and the compromises and trade-offs you need to make and building up good working relationships with the engineers that have been pushing the concept to date.

"There's already a few areas, I'm smiling to myself I won't give you the details, as I don't want our opponents to know, but there are a couple of areas where already he is saying: 'Can we push in this direction?', 'Can we just do that' and mechanical and composite engineers are looking at it and going: 'Yeah, okay'.

"That is the Adrian effect, he picks up on the areas you should push and everybody is just embracing it."

Cowell also confirmed outright that thus far, Newey had only been focusing on the 2026 rules and had not yet looked at the 2025 AMR25 machine.