Is Adrian Newey keeping the best Aston Martin for Melbourne?

Juan Pablo Montoya believes the Silverstone-based Aston Martin may not have shown its full hand during Bahrain Formula 1 testing thus far, suggesting Newey could be sitting on aerodynamic upgrades that will only appear at the first race.

Montoya questioned how similar the current grid appears on the surface: “Apart from the Aston, you look at every car, they all look the same. So, it means either nobody figured it out or everybody's sandbagging because they have figured something out.

"The aero packages are going to change a lot from now to Melbourne, and knowing Adrian Newey, he is going to wait in Melbourne to run the package. Adrian is not going to run anything in the test," added the Colombian motorsport legend.

The implication is clear. What has been seen so far may not reflect the real competitive order.

Montoya, who worked with Newey earlier in his Formula 1 career, warned that interpreting the design guru’s mood or public comments is almost impossible.

He explained: “Adrian Newey is a pessimist! So, it's really hard to judge. And I worked with Adrian. Adrian will say things are OK, but he's never happy. When he built the Red Bull that won every race a couple of years ago, he didn't think they had such a great car. And he won 90 % of the races.

“Reading Adrian is very difficult because Adrian is never happy and I think that's one of the key reasons why Adrian is so good, because he's never satisfied with what he has," the former McLaren and Williams F1 driver ventured.

For Montoya, that relentless dissatisfaction is precisely why Newey’s cars so often find performance others miss.

Beyond aero secrecy, Montoya raised a separate concern around power unit mileage and reliability, particularly with manufacturers running limited data.

He pointed to testing disparities: “I think there's a bigger question; where Honda is being a single car team in terms of reliability. Honda has one car and Audi has one car.

“In three days, Audi did 600 kilometres, Mercedes did 5,000 kms. Ferrari did 4,800 kms. As long as Aston doesn't have to turn the engine down, then they won't have any issues. The two big question marks for me revolve around not so much on power, but more on reliability.”

That shifts the conversation away from peak output and toward durability under race conditions.

With Melbourne looming and development updates expected before lights out, the key question remains whether Aston Martin has already shown its ceiling or whether Newey is preparing a reveal that could reset expectations when the season truly begins.

Montoya nevertheless believes Honda’s experience alongside Red Bull will prevent any fundamental power deficit, even as Aston Martin embarks on a new chapter.

He is confident the core package will be strong: “I think power-wise and in terms of reliability from the people that are running the programme, they won't have any issues.

“I think the big question is getting all the electric systems going, all the software, making sure there are no glitches. I think you're going to find he'll have some issues through the year. He always complains about the gearboxes and stuff like that!

“It’s not going to run as smooth at the beginning until they start figuring out and getting rid of the bugs. Whether you like it or not, there's no Honda at Red Bull. So, this is a completely new thing. And I guarantee you, Honda took everything.”

For Montoya, the performance ceiling may already be embedded within the project. The unknown is how quickly Aston Martin and Honda can iron out the integration details once the pressure of race weekends begins.

If Newey is indeed holding something back for Melbourne, the real test will not be peak speed in FP1, but whether the full package runs cleanly when it matters.

Montoya interview supplied by Vision4Sport, who offer quality F1 Hospitality packages.