Outside Line: Aston Martin plans for Newey? Will he fire Lance?

It is a surprise move because, let's be honest, Aston Martin has been top-heavy for a long time. They have gone out and taken every big name there is, from Martin Whitmarsh to whoever else is there. I now lose count of the number of people who have come in and contributed to this super team being built for 2026.

A year when there will be no excuses. This is Newey’s car, the AMR 26, I presume, has his signature all over it, and obviously, they feel it is a fantastic car. The work must be all done because they have had enough time to talk about him becoming the team principal next year, and making the management adjustment

I find that odd, though, because the aura about Newey was always that he was very much in the shadows. The guy gives very rare interviews, and when he does, they are long. And I think that aspect of him, gazing intently at opponents’ cars, walking up and down the pitlane, created this aura that helped cement the legend of this genius.

Obviously, he is one. He was always hidden in the back room at Williams, where Frank Williams was the boss. In his McLaren days, it was Ron Dennis, and in his Red Bull Racing days, it was Christian Horner who lured him to the team because that is what team principals do.

Horner, for all his faults, will be known as one of the great team principals because he put together an amazing team throughout his tenure at Red Bull, and when they hit Formula 1 World Champions status, they were the most potent force in the sport. To this day, Red Bull have him to thank for building the workforce that they have.

Is the former Red Bull team principal heading to Aston Martin in the position of CEO? Did Newey put his hand up for the job to keep Horner out? Who knows what's really going on except the decision makers, aka Lawrence Stroll up to? Is this a stopgap as Editor Jad Mallak has suggested? If so, for what or whom?

No matter where you research, it is hard to find out exactly the relationship is between Horner and Newey. Up until the team principal's scandal-packed final years at the helm, they seemed to be pals, at least. Did Horner's sexting scandal affect Newey to the point that he does not want to work with his former colleague?

In stark contrast to Horner, Newey has never had experience leading a team of any kind. He worked within the shadows of the sport's greatest teams during their respective heydays, namely Williams and McLaren.

And, with respect to the great man, he just does not seem to have the type of charisma that team principals must have. He seems to be a sensitive, thoughtful, quietly spoken, intellectual type of man. His silence speaks louder than words.

Formula 1 team bosses have to be brutes. If you think of the great team principals of our era, you have to put the likes of Horner in other, a slugger. Mercedes Toto Wolff, same thing, a brawler. Jean Todt at Ferrari, Little Napoleon. Three TPs whose teams have dominated the 21st century of our sport. I do not see a thread of the belligerence, essential of leaders, in Newey. Maybe he will surprise us all!

And the fact that Adrian was even considering retiring a couple of years ago and going sailing around the world, yet he is becoming team principal of the most high-profile project on the Formula 1 grid. To me, it is a puzzling about-turn.

I do not believe that in the history of Formula 1 has so much money been invested into a team, from getting little Lance Stroll in at Williams through to the Force India and Racing Point debacle and now this mega project which is Aston Martin. Money has not been an issue.

Huge investments made so far have been disappointingly unfruitful. The results have been abysmal in terms of bang for bucks. Thus, headhunting the greatest designer in Formula 1’s history was a master stroke. That is what Newey is known for.

He is known for designing very effective and incredibly fast Formula 1 cars. Surely he has a hand in the AMR 26's DNA. Otherwise, what was the point of luring him to the project

Let us not forget that the type of cars Newey designs, as history shows, are not easy cars to drive and are not always plug and play out of the box. Ask anyone who has driven his cars. In fact, his latest greatest cars that Max Verstappen took to his first titles were beasts only Max could drive.

Although having Newey design an Aston Martin will probably mean it will be a rocket in the right hands, in the hands of the right driver, the team has only one real driver and that is Fernando Alonso. But the new car being a front runner is not a sure thing, at least not until we see them all run in anger at the season opener next year.

And if Stroll junior thinks he is going to get an easy ride driving a Newey inspired car, that he can now see himself on the podium, he may have to think twice because history shows that Newey’s cars can be a handful. They can be brutal. Ask Ayrton Senna.

The first test of his authority in the role of boss will be how he deals with Stroll the driver. If Adrian Newey, Aston Martin team principal, signs Lance for 2026 then we know he will be sh!te at the helm of the team. A figurehead only, in a team packed with them.