Aston Martin is counting down to the first run of their 2026 car, and no one feels the pressure as intensely as Adrian Newey. The top designer, who has been working in Silverstone for several months, admits that the transition to the new regulations is completely consuming him.
In a video from Aston Martin on YouTube, Newey reveals that he has barely noticed anything around him in recent months. “My wife complains that I’m in some sort of design trance,” the top designer says with a laugh. “And I understand what she means: I hardly notice what’s happening around me and I’m probably not very sociable. The limited time and energy I have is entirely devoted to the deadlines we have to meet.”
This intensity stems from something that has driven Newey throughout his entire career: the fear of failure. “Part of my motivation is that fear,” he explains. “I try to use it in a constructive way. It’s the difference between too much pressure, which leads to mistakes, and well-managed pressure, which creates focus and tunnel vision.” With the first shakedown of the 2026 car tentatively scheduled for the end of January in Barcelona, there is little room for error. Yet Newey dares not make any predictions about the results. “The honest truth? I have no idea,” he says. “We are in a phase of great change. The team has grown enormously and now needs to stabilize. Everyone needs to get in sync.”
Focus on the Team
Newey doesn’t make big promises. “I’ve never believed in statements like ‘now we’re going to achieve this’ or ‘now we’re going to win that’. The real satisfaction comes from working together and making progress. If we can achieve that in 2026, that’s the first big checkmark.” Although everyone is looking at him, Newey says he’s not doing it alone. “In the end, it’s all about the team and how we all work together.” Aston Martin has brought in one of the biggest names in the sport with Newey. But if it’s up to him, it’s not the designer who will be in the spotlight in 2026, but the collective that must translate his vision into speed.
