Newey sheds light on why he 'picked up' Aston Martin team principal role

Ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, it was announced that the British master designer would take over as Aston Martin's team principal next year. Former team boss Andy Cowell will become the Chief Strategy Officer.

However, Newey will only take over that role and won't be the team's CEO.

GPblog understands that just a few hours before the announcement, Newey was unsure of being handed his new position in the team and paddock sources say the move came out of the blue and was rushed through.

The Briton addressed his appointment when talking to Sky Sports.

The master designer said: "To be perfectly honest, it became very evident that with the challenge of the '26 PU, then, Andy's skill set in terms of helping the three-way relationship between Honda, Aramco and ourselves, is absolutely his skill set.

He added: “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 other than, of course, having to talk to you.”

Still, Newey underlined that his passion remains designing cars.

He concluded: “That's 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.”

Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both positively to the change.

The Spaniard told GPblog in Qatar: "It was maybe a normal, logical step into 2026."

Max Verstappen also believes Newey will be able to succeed next year. He commented: "I'm sure he will do well. I'm happy for him! He's in a different team environment now. I'm just sitting here, enjoying it!"

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