Speculation is swirling about Adrian Newey’s appointment as Aston Martin’s team principal as it emerged Christian Horner had previously predicted “it would be chaos” if the car designer had to run a team.
On Thursday Aston Martin announced a change to the leadership structure of the team for next season. Andy Cowell has been moved out of the position of team principal and will begin a new role as chief strategy officer, while Newey will take on the role of team principal.
Reading a statement from a piece of paper, team owner Lawrence Stroll announced to staff: “Adrian, Andy and I have agreed to make a leadership change in the best interest of the team.
“This will allow Andy and Adrian to divide their responsibilities to focus on their individual strengths and expertise, ensuring organisational efficiency.”
An Aston Martin statement said: “As managing technical partner, Adrian Newey will be responsible for guiding the technical team, including the trackside operations of the car and will take on the additional role of team principal from 2026.”
Newey will be combining his new position with his current role of managing technical partner which he started after joining the team in March following 20 years at Red Bull.
It will be the first time he has held the job of team principal, having worked behind the scenes on car design since his career in sport began in the 1980s.
Former Red Bull colleague Horner, 52, had been linked with the job when his gardening leave from the Milton Keynes outfit finishes in the spring after an A$162 million payout.
But Newey’s appointment to team principal has seemingly shut the door on a potential reunion with Horner, who has reportedly been eyeing a return to the F1 paddock after being sacked by Red Bull mid-season.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast back in 2021, Horner spoke about the style of leadership required to be a successful team principal and suggested Newey would not be well suited to the managerial role.
“You have to build an environment around them that enables them to focus on what they’re good at,” Horner said.
“It’s like Adrian. Adrian is an artist. There’s no point Adrian managing a bunch of people because it’d be chaos. He would be the first to accept that.
“You want to give him the freedom as an artist to be creative. I think that’s why he’s been here (at Red Bull) probably twice as long as any other team in the sport.”
Watch Horner’s comments about Adrian Newey in the video at the top of this story
Horner added: “I’m not an engineer. I don’t have any engineering degrees. I couldn’t tell you how the cars are built, even less so how an engine is built.
“It’s a people business, as most businesses are.
“It’s about getting a group of people together, empowering them, giving them the right direction, removing the obstacles to allow them to do their jobs and focus on their job without being troubled by worrying about what somebody else is doing or what another department is doing.”
Another theory floated is that Newey won’t be able to juggle the commitments of both designing Aston Martin’s car and the public facing role of team principal, and his appointment is a stop-gap measure.
That arrangement would be similar to McLaren where Zak Brown is CEO and Andrea Stella is team principal.
Sky Sports F1 reporter Craig Slater pondered: “Might this still be a temporary solution?
“Is there still space for a chief executive figure perhaps along the lines of the job Zak Brown does at McLaren.
“Could that figure possibly still be Christian Horner?
“Horner cannot work in F1 until April next year. He is looking not just for a job in F1 but a stakeholding within a team. Is there still the potential for him to link up again with Newey, despite their past differences.
Slater suggested Horner could “take on those more political and front-of-house roles with the media and leaving Newey to be team principal and devote as much of his time to designing the various iterations of future Aston Martins.”
Speaking to CoinCasino, three-time F1 Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert said Newey’s move to team principal pointed to him wanting more control over the team.
“It’s very interesting where Adrian is obviously pushing very hard from within to make sure he gets what he needs to be able to produce a race-winning Aston Martin,” Herbert said.
“We’re going to have to see if Adrian is able to achieve that once again. It’s how you have the right fit to be able to have the right person in the right place.
“Before the announcement it seemed an obvious fit for Horner to go there given what Christian has achieved in the past with Adrian on board.
“It seemed the perfect fit but only if Adrian wanted it, and the whole team felt that that was the right thing for them to do.”
Herbert suggested a falling out between Newey and Horner at Red Bull could be a contributing factor in Newey shutting the door on a potential reunion at Aston Martin.
“There did seem to be some friction between the two when Adrian departed Red Bull,” he said.
“Making Adrian team principal is a very interesting move from Aston Martin.
“His appointment has come out of the blue. With all the rumours regarding Christian joining, this seems an easy way of saying, ‘We don’t need or want you.’ You now get a feeling that the fallout from the Red Bull saga has put teams off hiring him.
“This doubles Adrian’s workload as he joined the team for his design expertise and now has a very time-consuming job as team principal as well.”
Newey designed cars have won 12 constructors’ championships and 13 drivers’ championships during his time at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, earning the 66-year-old a reputation as a design genius.
There is also intrigue over Aston Martin’s future driver pairing — 44-year-old Fernando Alonso is contracted for next season while Lance Stroll, son of billionaire owner Lawrence, will continue to race for the team in 2026.
Aston Martin are eighth in the 2025 Constructors’ Championship after back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2023 and 2024.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll said of the team changes: “Andy Cowell has been a great leader this year. He’s focused on building a world-class team and getting them to work well together, as well as fostering a culture that puts the race car back at the heart of what we do.
“This leadership change is a mutual decision we have reached in the interest of the team.
“We all look forward to continuing working with him in his new capacity as chief strategy officer.
“I’m also pleased that Adrian Newey will step into the team principal role, which will enable him to make full use of his creative and technical expertise.
“Both these changes will ensure the team is best placed to play to their collective strengths.”
The F1 title battle between the McLaren drivers and Max Verstappens heads to the Qatar Grand Prix this weekend as Oscar Piastri’s aims to cut into Lando Norris’ 24-point lead.
