Why Alonso Believes Newey Won’t ‘Fix’ 2025 Aston Martin Car

May 2 – It’s not Adrian Newey’s job to “fix” the underperforming 2025 Aston Martin car, Fernando Alonso insists.

Last week, between the Saudi Arabian and Miami grand prix weekends, Alonso returned to the team’s Silverstone base and was pictured walking the halls with Newey – the design ‘genius’ who arrived from Red Bull in March.

“I had lunch with Adrian, we had some conversations, but not much about this year,” the two-time champion, who is yet to score even a single point this season so far, told Spanish journalists in Miami.

“They were general conversations about the team and how he has felt in his first weeks at Aston Martin, the changes that could be made to the team to have a better future under his experience,” Alonso, 43, added.

“It’s exciting to talk to him and be able to work with him – it was a great day.”

There is no doubt, however, that the team is woefully underperforming in 2025 – with the final Aston Martin that had no input whatsoever by Newey.

Team boss Andy Cowell is not ruling out that some improvements may be made to the car within this season, but he is open about the fact that the only real priority is the 2026 Newey car.

“The reason is that we are investing heavily in next year, so we are not panicking about this year’s car,” he said. “We are using it as a platform to learn how to operate in the new wind tunnel, with new modelling tools, with a bigger team.

“At the moment we use every race to collect data, and this data is now more important to us than points.”

Reports, however, have indicated that Alonso may be shedding motivation to work and race at the limit, and overall confidence in the entire project.

“I’ve never lost confidence,” the Spaniard insisted, “and I’m not too worried about 2026.

“This year is a continuation of some of the problems we’ve had in the last two seasons – we didn’t overcome some of those obstacles. For next year, with the new rules, with Adrian on board, nothing from this car will be in the 2026 project. It’s a complete reset so I’m not too worried.”

However, he admits that an easy solution for the 2025 car is “not so clear”.

“There’s nothing we can do overnight,” Alonso added. “But we have a better understanding of what we’re lacking, our capabilities, and where we stand behind the top teams. Some of the people who have joined have come from teams fighting for titles, so they know what it takes.

“We’re heading in the right direction, but in F1, nothing changes overnight even if no driver wants to wait for a result. You have to balance that, be patient, and keep your motivation as high as possible,” he said.

However, many think that Newey should spend at least some time sprinkling some of his infamous ‘design magic’ on the woeful 2024 car.

Alonso, however, does not necessarily agree.

“I don’t have the knowledge or experience of a racing designer like him about how his time should be dedicated,” said the winner of 32 grands prix.

“He would have preferred to have joined the team a year ago to start with the 2026 project then, so I’m sure he thinks he’s already late. So I understand why he’s focused on next year’s car.”

Alonso concluded: “He didn’t design the 2025 car, he didn’t touch it – I don’t think it’s up to him to fix it.”

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