Adrian Newey will become Aston Martin’s Formula One boss from 2026 as part of a management reshuffle that will see existing team principal Andy Cowell take on a new role.
Newey, the most successful car designer in F1 history, joined Aston Martin this year as its managing technical partner following a 19-year stint with Red Bull Racing.
But from next season, he will also take on duties as team principal after Aston Martin announced a series of changes to its leadership structure on Wednesday ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
It emerged after Saturday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix that Aston Martin was considering moving Cowell, its team principal and CEO, into a new role following a disappointing season. The team has slid to eighth in the constructors’ championship and has failed to finish a race any higher than fifth with drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
From 2026, Cowell will become Aston Martin’s new chief strategy officer, who will focus on the technical relationships between the team and its partners, including Honda, its engine supplier as of next year.
Newey will take on the additional role of team principal from next year as part of a reshuffle that the team said in a statement was “designed to ensure the leadership team is well prepared to play to its collective strengths in 2026.”
The 66-year-old has designed world championship-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull through an enormously successful F1 career that spans back to the 1980s. His cars have won a total of 12 drivers’ championships and 14 constructors’ titles.
But he will now be at the helm of an F1 team for the first time with his added position at Aston Martin ahead of a pivotal season in 2026, when an overhaul of the car design and engine rules will offer the team a chance to recover from its recent slump.
Newey will become the third team principal at Aston Martin in the space of a year. Cowell was named team principal in January, adding the duties to his role of CEO after joining Aston Martin in 2024. His predecessor, Mike Krack, spent three years as team principal before being moved into the role of chief trackside officer for this season.
Since starting work with Aston Martin in March, Newey has been heavily involved in its 2026 car design project. Earlier this month, the team completed a restructure of its technical team that was heavily influenced by Newey, and this expanded role will allow him to continue to firmly put his stamp on the team’s operations.
“I’m looking forward to taking on this additional role as we put ourselves in the best possible position to compete in 2026, where we will face an entirely new position with Aston Martin now a works team combined with the considerable challenge faced by the new regulations,” Newey said in a statement.
Aston Martin team owner and executive chairman Lawrence Stroll said Newey’s new role would “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.”
Stroll bought the team when it was known as Force India for $117 million in 2018, saving it from closure (Andrew Ferraro/Getty Images for Aston Martin)
Newey’s appointment comes after speculation that Christian Horner, former Red Bull team principal, could be in contention for a role with Aston Martin as he seeks a return to F1.
As reported by The Athletic last month, Horner is not looking to take on a traditional team principal role, but instead wants to invest in one of the F1 outfits while remaining hands-on operationally with a more CEO-style position.
In his new role, Cowell will take on duties that are closer to his previous position at Mercedes, where he oversaw its engine division through the team’s dominant run of championships before leaving in 2020.
According to Aston Martin’s statement, Cowell will “help optimize the technical partnerships” between the team and its technical partners “to ensure the seamless integration of the team’s new power unit, fuel and chassis.”
