F1: Newey and Alonso, from what could not be at McLaren to a final bullet in 2026

In the prologue of How to make a car (Libros Cúpula, 2019), the autobiography of Adrian Newey, Fernando Alonso tells how Ron Dennis He informed him of the departure of the great aerodynamics guru from McLaren. In other words, how he knew he would not be able to work with him. “He called me to tell me that he was tired of the pressure, that he was going to go to Red Bull for entertainment. Anyway, he told me not to worry. Five years later, he started to really worry us all.” That signing would decide the first triumphant era of the team led by Christian Horner (2010-2013) and would frustrate the Asturian’s options with Ferrari in the 2010 and 2012 World Championships. Yesterday, almost 18 years later, the paths of Newey and Alonso finally crossed in Formula 1. The longest-serving driver and the most successful engineer in history will captain the Aston Martin project.

«Newey’s stamp on his designs was, is and will be the talk of the town. paddock. The number of times I have heard in a meeting that they had already understood how and why Adrian had done this or that. And the number of times that when trying to replicate it the result was, unfortunately, something different than expected,” Alonso underlines in the aforementioned preamble to the book. At 43, the two-time world champion faces his last chance to fight for a third title. At 65, Newey will sit down again to design a championship car. He limits himself to drawing with a 0.3 mm 4H pencil on a piece of paper. A faithful group of collaborators simply transfers his ideas to computers.

As he explained during his stellar presentation yesterday, Newey will start working next March, so no one should expect concrete results on the track until the second half of the 2025 World Championship. The horizon, however, could clear up in 2026, when a new technical regulation will come into force that not only entails major changes to the power unit, but also drastic revisions to aerodynamics. The terrain where Newey, winner of 13 drivers’ titles and another 12 constructors’ titles with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, makes the difference.

Stroll’s leadership

Alonso, who was unable to take advantage of the various rule changes with Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine, now has one last bullet in his revolver. “Aston Martin is undoubtedly the team of the future,” he warned yesterday during the event at Silverstone. A different glow could be seen in his eyes. Nothing to do with the resignation with which he faces the last third of the 2024 World Championship, where he has barely scored 50 points in 16 races. Newey’s added value was already acting as a revitaliser: “Thanks to Adrian, his talent and his cars, we have all improved, as drivers, engineers, teams. We all had to raise the bar to be able to compete with him.”

As already happened in the summer of 2022 with Alonso himself, the leadership of Lawrence Stroll has been crucial in closing the deal. “I have been hugely inspired and impressed by the passion and commitment Lawrence brings to everything he does. He is determined to build a leading team. He is the only majority owner actively involved in the sport,” Newey stressed yesterday during his appearance. From 2026, Aston Martin will have an exclusive supply of Honda engines, a bespoke fuel thanks to Aramco, its main sponsor, and a brand new, state-of-the-art factory, with the Silverstone wind tunnel as the jewel in the crown.

«I will be full time»

The Canadian magnate will place Newey as the figurehead of a project where they also stand out Andy Cowell (CEO of the group), Bob Bell (CEO), Enrico Cardile (technical director), Eric Blandin (head of aerodynamics), Tom McCullough (performance director), Luca Furbato (engineering director) and Dan Fallows (technical director). If Stroll now has a multi-year contract that could exceed 35 million euros, before he did not hesitate to get Fallows from Red Bull and Blandin from Mercedes.

A decision of such magnitude has of course not been influenced by recent comments about the role Newey had been playing during his last stint at Red Bull. When asked yesterday about whether he only worked three days a week on the car, Max Verstappenhe simply wanted to laugh off the rumours. “I will be there full time. I need to be there. I have to be there,” he revealed about his future involvement at the Silverstone Technology Campus.

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