Newey 'determined not to dilute' design focus despite new Aston Martin Team Principal role

Adrian Newey has insisted that he is "determined not to dilute" his focus on car design and development in 2026, despite taking on the role of Team Principal at Aston Martin.

The legendary designer joined Aston Martin at the start of this year after two decades with Red Bull in the role of Managing Technical Partner.

But ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix this weekend, it was announced that Newey would be taking on more responsibility via the Team Principal role, which will also include guiding the technical team and trackside operations of the car.

Despite this new job title, Newey stated when speaking to Sky Sports F1 that focusing on the development of the new generation of Formula 1 car is "really what I want to and need to do.

"That's what gets me out of bed in the morning so I'm determined not to dilute that."

Newey takes over from Andy Cowell, who has spent the last year as Team Principal and CEO implementing structural changes to aid the squad's transition to a full works team next year.

Cowell will become Chief Strategy Officer, with a focus on optimising the technical partnership between the team, works engine supplier Honda, fuel supplier Aramco and lubricant partner Valvoline.

"To be perfectly honest, it became very evident that with the challenge of the 2026 Power Unit, that Andy's skillset in terms of helping the three-way relationship between Honda, Aramco and ourselves is absolutely his skillset," said Newey.

"So he very magnanimously volunteered to be heavily involved in that through the first part of 2026.

"That left kind of, 'well who is going to be Team Principal', and since I'm going to be doing all the early races anyway, it doesn't actually particularly change my workload because I'm there anyway so I may as well pick up that bit."