After weeks of speculation, a collaboration between Aston Martin and former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner now appears to be definitively off the table. Lawrence Stroll is said to have resolutely swept all rumors aside: the Brit will not be joining the Silverstone team. Stroll reportedly made it clear to staff this week that a collaboration is out of the question. Top designer and Red Bull alumnus Adrian Newey was previously appointed as the new team boss.
Aston Martin recently announced a major reorganization for 2026, in which Adrian Newey will take on the role of team boss. The current leader, engineer Andy Cowell, will move to a position where he will lead the collaboration with engine partner Honda. Despite this new momentum, the structure of the team, as emphasized by Stroll, remains intact. There is also explicitly no place for Christian Horner, as reported by BBC Sport. The Brit was fired by Red Bull this summer and is said to be working behind the scenes on a comeback in Formula 1.
Since his departure from Red Bull – where he was fired prior to the Belgian GP, ending his twenty-year tenure – Horner has been linked to multiple teams. Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Alpine were mentioned as possible options. Aston Martin was always a question mark, partly due to earlier reports that Horner and Newey were at odds. Horner was previously involved in a scandal after a female Red Bull employee accused him of inappropriate behavior, which reportedly caused internal tensions.
Newey Explains Promotion
Horner’s move to Aston Martin is now definitively off the table. To the surprise of many, Adrian Newey was officially announced as the new team boss this week. From 2026, the celebrated designer will be in charge at Silverstone. Speaking to Sky Sports, Newey explained why he was the one promoted: “To be honest, it quickly became clear that Andy’s (Cowell) skills would be better utilized within the tripartite collaboration between Honda, Aramco, and Aston Martin,” he stated.
“So, he very generously offered to be intensively involved in that in the first half of 2026,” Newey continued. “After that, it was simply a question of who would become the new team boss.” In the end, the choice fell on Newey, who, after decades behind the scenes, will take the lead in the daily management of a team for the first time. “Since I was going to be at all the races anyway, my workload doesn’t really change,” he concluded. “So, I might as well take on that bit of responsibility too.”
