Adrian Newey will take a step back from his leadership role at Aston Martin to focus solely on technical matters, according to sources.
Newey, who became technical managing partner and shareholder of the Aston Martin F1 team in March 2025, assumed the role of team principal at the beginning of this season.
Now, Newey will leave that position.
Sources report that Jonathan Wheatley, head of the Audi team, is the most likely candidate for the position, although an agreement has not yet been reached.
The team will not participate in media speculation about its leadership team. Adrian Newey continues to lead the team as technical director and managing partner.
Aston Martin Spokesperson
Team sources indicated that Newey’s role as interim team principal was always seen as a provisional agreement, although it was never communicated publicly.Adrian Newey fue nombrado director del equipo el año pasado.The new hire, according to the same sources, will report to Newey in the new structure to be established.
This role represented uncharted territory for Newey, the most successful car designer in the sport, placing him at the center of the explanation for Aston Martin’s current difficulties with its new engine partner, Honda.
In Australia, Newey offered several press conferences, including the reevaluation of the engine vibrations that caused both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to fear permanent nerve damage.
Several candidates for the position were interviewed in recent months, in addition to Wheatley, including Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, and former McLaren boss Andreas Seidl.
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s boss, also held talks with team owner Lawrence Stroll about the possibility of becoming the team’s CEO.
That role would have been more complete than the team leader role that Aston Martin is currently looking to fill.
Horner’s agreement with Red Bull will allow him to return to work in the paddock starting in July.
Last November, a leaked video showed Stroll addressing Aston Martin employees, stating that Horner would not be joining the team under any circumstances.
Horner continues to seek a deal with the Alpine team as part of a consortium looking to acquire a stake, but it is understood that he has not completely ruled out the idea of taking on some kind of role at Aston Martin.
The arrival of Wheatley would mean that the former Red Bull sporting director leaves Audi after only 10 months in the position. Wheatley worked at Red Bull with Newey for 20 years, through two periods of dominance at the top of F1.
It is understood that Newey will remain a key part of the team despite leaving his current position, a decision that was made with team owner Lawrence Stroll after the Australian Grand Prix.
Stroll has invested heavily in Aston Martin to turn it into a title contender under the current rules, spending a lot of money on a state-of-the-art team headquarters opposite the Silverstone circuit. The new facility includes the team’s own wind tunnel, which came into operation last year.
Stroll’s plan for the new regulations also included the exclusive partnership with Honda, but so far it has been a nightmare.
Newey himself said before the start in Australia that the engine of the Japanese manufacturer vibrates so much that drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll ran the risk of suffering permanent nerve damage if they held the steering wheel for a long time.
From the second race in China, a video has emerged of Alonso repeatedly letting go of the steering wheel while driving the car due to the intense vibrations.
Neither he nor Stroll have completed the distance of a race.
During the inaugural race, it was revealed that the Honda engine had destroyed two of the four batteries that Aston Martin can use throughout the season before incurring grid penalties.
