Adrian Newey’s arrival at Aston Martin F1 triggers a wave of young engineering talent eager to join the ambitious Formula 1 project.
The Adrian Newey effect is already at play at Aston Martin F1, according to team ambassador Pedro de la Rosa.
The Spaniard, a former Formula 1 driver, is not referring to on-track performance, as Newey’s contributions to the 2025 car have been and will remain more than minimal.
De la Rosa instead claims that talented engineers are beginning to flock to the Silverstone-based team.
“The shift is significant!”
“Since the announcement of Newey’s arrival, a radical change has taken place. More and more people want to work at Aston Martin, coming from other teams, of course, but especially from universities.”
“No one would have imagined this, but it’s happening because young engineers want to work with real experts to learn faster.”
“This is something we don’t always appreciate, as we still see Adrian Newey as the man who builds winning cars. But for us, seeing the new generation wanting to work with him is also very important, because it represents Aston Martin’s future.”
“Sometimes we focus on big names, but teams win thanks to everything: the big names, yes, but also the unsung heroes who will one day take their place.”
Interestingly, de la Rosa also revealed that, although Honda is still supplying engines to Red Bull, the Japanese manufacturer is already working “seven days a week” with Aston Martin on the 2026 project.
“We work with Honda every day. Luca Furbatto, our design director, works with Honda every day.”
“We’ve designed a gearbox ourselves for the first time, and it has to fit the engine perfectly. The information exchange between Aston Martin and Honda is daily, with many of our engineers going to Honda, while Honda engineers come to our factory.”
“Right now, it’s hard to tell who’s from Aston Martin and who’s from Honda, because we’re working as one team.”
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, who recently drew Red Bull’s ire for his criticism of Christian Horner, believes the opposite effect of what de la Rosa describes is currently happening in Milton Keynes.
“In reality, it’s not just key employees who have left Red Bull because of Christian Horner. There are also talented engineers who don’t want to join Red Bull as long as Horner is in charge.”
“Max Verstappen should think about that for his own future,” Schumacher concluded.