Alonso: We have the two most successful individuals, Cowell & Newey

Alonso claims that Aston Martin now boasts one of the strongest management teams in Formula 1, hailing Cowell and Newey for their illustrious histories and great achievements in the sport.

Newey left Red Bull Racing back in 2024, and as part of his plan to develop Aston Martin, Chairman Lawrence Stroll managed to secure the signature of the celebrated F1 engineer, bringing him on board as managing technical director.

But that did not last long, as in November of 2025, Aston Martin announced a management reshuffle that saw Newey take over the role of Team Principal from 2026, while Cowell stepped into a new role of Chief Strategy Officer, where he will coordinate the efforts between Aston Martin, Honda, Valvoline, and Aramco.

That decision, according to Aston Martin, made sense given Cowell's previous experience when heading Mercedes' power unit division at Brixworth, as he oversaw their dominant turbo-hybrid power unit that debuted back in 2014 and powered them to eight consecutive F1 Constructors' Titles.

Speaking right after the changes at Aston Martin were announced, Alonso admitted he didn't see Newey making the transition and said: "We were discussing more technical stuff about the car than any other thing or future dreams, but yeah, it's good news."

But the Spaniard, trying to put things into context, then added: "He was, anyway, managing in a way the technical development of the car, but also the team, the people that were needed, and taking care of which areas we need to reinforce as a team, which other areas were less important.

“So, in a way, he was doing internally a lot of management, and Andy was doing a lot of management as well on the engine side and engine integration to the chassis. It was maybe a normal logic step into 2026.”

With Newey and Cowell's combined legacies in F1 in mind, Alonso said: "We have probably the two best people. One doing the chassis and the team, one [doing] the engine integration and the team as well.

“And we have a very strong leader with Lawrence, with the determination that Lawrence has and the commitment that he's shown for many, many years already.

“So between the three of them, I think we are in good hands. Let's move into 2026 with, hopefully, a better car."

Newey has been working in the shadows of F1 all over his career, a quiet individual that went about his design work without any other involvements, so Alonso was asked what he expected from his new team boss in terms of leadership style.

He responded: “I think with Adrian, there is only one style, which is performance. There is no other word. There is just the unlimited search for performance and perfection. Great competitor, great leader.

“So I think the whole team, which is not that we are not into the performance direction now, but I think with Adrian, it will be even more extreme. If we can embrace that approach from everybody. We cannot forget this team is still very new, and now the team grew up so quickly in the last two or three years.

“So a lot of our employees are new to the sport and are young, energetic people that we need the guidance of Adrian, or these great leaders, that we have to teach them what is the way to succeed in Formula 1.

“We have the two most successful individuals ever in the sport, Andy Cowell and Adrian Newey," the 44-year-old reiterated.

However, Alonso was adamant that the disappointing 2025 F1 season Aston Martin endured was not the reason why Cowell was moved aside.

He explained: "2025 is a challenging season for us, no doubts. But to be honest, this is not removing the long-term view of the team. The situation we are in is what it is. We are fighting for just the last few points in some races, and we are not happy with that.

"But this is not really influencing any decision or any big change in the team," the 2005 and 2006 F1 Champion concluded.