Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa believes Adrian Newey’s leadership has been crucial to keeping the Silverstone-based outfit united through a difficult 2026 campaign, insisting the legendary designer’s presence has helped the team maintain its focus while attempting to repair a fundamentally compromised car.
Aston Martin entered the new regulation era with expectations running high, only for its AMR26 to emerge from pre-season testing carrying significant problems.
The car was late in development, while Honda’s new power unit suffered severe vibration issues that forced Newey to issue an unusually stark warning after testing.
The subsequent recovery has been gradual rather than spectacular. Aston remains among the lower tier of the field despite Newey’s leadership skills and engineering genius, with Honda also bearing a large share of the responsibility for the team’s disappointing position.
The power-unit problems compounded a late start to the AMR26 project, leaving Aston Martin playing catch-up while rivals had already established their baseline performance.
Yet de la Rosa sees signs that the organisation is finally beginning to find its footing.
A project that started late
The former F1 driver has explained why the team's 2026 campaign was compromised before the car had even reached the grid.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just that our expectations were so high for this 26 [season],” the Spaniard told Motorsport Week.
“But then you look from a very rational way, and you realise that Adrian arrived 2nd of March, I think it was, in 2025, so already when the whole campaign had started.
“And then we had this fantastic new wind tunnel that was commissioned, but it was not fully operational until one month after Adrian arrived, so everything started like three to four months too late.
“Then you look at Honda, and Honda also started the whole programme, having decided to withdraw from Formula 1 and then decided to come back. So all in all, if you look at it from a very whole rational point of view, we started late in many, in key aspects, you know.
“And therefore, I think that we’re just catching up. But we’re catching up at a good pace, because we really know now with all these new elements, new talent, new tools available to us, that we know what to do.”
A substantial upgrade package in Hungary subsequently delivered Aston Martin’s first Q2 appearance of the season, while Honda has also benefited from additional development opportunities under the 2026 regulations.
Newey keeping the team together
For all the technical difficulties, however, de la Rosa believes Newey’s influence has extended well beyond the drawing board.
“I think that it’s the fact that it’s not only about infrastructure or having a campus, a simulator and a wind tunnel – I think that talent is the most important of them all,” he explained.
“And we have the talent and that is clear. The fact that Adrian is such a great leader has also helped us massively in remaining calm and united.
“Because we knew we had his leadership. And if Adrian and Enrico [Cardile, chief technical officer], to be fair, wouldn’t have been here, it would have been more difficult, more challenging.
“But having them on board has been critical, I would say, and very, very positive.”
Read also: De la Rosa: Stroll ‘unbeatable in many corners’ – as fast as AlonsoThat leadership will now be tested further as Aston Martin attempts to convert its improving understanding of the AMR26 into tangible performance.
The team may have endured a bruising opening to the new era, but de la Rosa believes the foundations are finally being put in place.
With Newey and Cardile providing the technical direction, Aston Martin's challenge is to ensure that the lessons of a difficult 2026 season become the building blocks for a much more competitive future.
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