Aston Martin deliver clear message over major team change

Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell has addressed the squad's future as it prepares for a new era starting in 2026, insisting its focus stretches far beyond the next 12 months.

F1 will undergo a significant change next year, with all teams constructing their cars under a fresh set of technical regulations.

The new rules have been labelled as one of the biggest year-to-year changes in the sport's history, with both the aerodynamics and the power units undergoing alterations.

Cowell has been part of the Aston Martin team for over 12 months, having joined as Group CEO last year before taking on the team principal role this season.

The Briton is overseeing a period of transition for the team. Next year, it will switch to Honda power units, having been a customer of Mercedes for many seasons.

Speaking exclusively to RacingNews365, Cowell detailed his approach to taking charge of the Silverstone-based squad as the team targets a step up the pecking order.

“Joining the team, I was keen to learn about the team overall and then dig down into the world of aerodynamics as an area that I knew of, but not any great detail as to what an aerodynamicist does,” Cowell said.

“And then you pull a plan together, and you get stuck into going from what you can see to where you'd like the team to be.

“That learning just carries on. Every day is a new experience of learning and reflecting and thinking about ‘what's the core purpose of the team?’

“Getting everybody focused on the objective of making our formula Aston Martin, powered by Honda racing car, to be better and measured against our reference.

“How do we get it so that every single area of our business focuses on performance improvement?

“The steeper we can make that curve, the quicker we will improve, which means you overtake the opposition. And if you keep focused on that. You don't let glory pollute your head.

“You stay ahead, so it's trying to get everything aligned to that, listening to all the requests and working out, what are we going to do, first, second and third - because you can't do everything at the same time.”

The Aston Martin squad has undergone major changes in recent times, which include moving into a brand new factory at Silverstone that features its own operational wind tunnel.

Heading the technical department is Adrian Newey, renowned as one of F1's greatest-ever car designers.

Newey is putting zero focus into the 2025 car as he applies his knowledge to the technical regulation change coming into play next year.

While there is excitement being generated over the team's prospects for 2026, Cowell asserted Aston Martin's vision stretches far beyond the car under Newey's guidance.

“Change is not trivial,” Cowell said. “We're going racing, we're engineering a car for next year, adding change on top of that is extra workload. Making change requires extra effort.

“There are always hurdles. There's always a feeling of, ‘do we really need to?’ and it's just leaning into that.

“It’s leaning into that and keeping the medium to long-term focus, because it’s not just about 2026. It’s the first season of us being a works team.

“But there are many more championships after that point, and we want to be strong across all of those.

“That’s where Lawrence is exceptionally good at having that vision and investing further for the medium to long-term.

“You don't invest in a wind tunnel if it's short-term. You don't invest in the campus that we've experienced if you’re there for the short term.

“Lawrence gives a very clear vision. We're all impatient, but the investment supports a medium to long-term approach.”