With legendary aerodynamicist Adrian Newey moving to Aston Martin this year, the expectations are sky-high for the Silverstone-based outfit. Many believe that it is a question of when rather than if they will be championship contenders in the years to come.
Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok too belongs among the group of fans, who believe that Newey will turn Aston Martin into title contenders. “There is opportunity in 2026 if he (Newey) could spend 2025, creating the structure and building the team up,” Chandhok explained on the Evo India podcast. “With the new rules change in 2026, we could see a change quickly”.
The Indian former driver then echoed the hopes of several F1 fans by stating “won’t it be amazing if a 44-year-old Fernando Alonso winning the championship in an Adrian Newey car? What a story that will be.”
Chandhok expects Newey to turn around Aston Martin’s fortunes soon because of how quickly he transformed Red Bull from a midfield outfit into championship challengers back in 2009.
Joining forces at last.
Adrian Newey Fernando Alonso. pic.twitter.com/Is5EfaWpSp
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) September 10, 2024
Although Red Bull only managed to win the title from 2010 to 2013, Chandhok believes that the Milton Keynes-based outfit would have also won in 2009, had it not been for the controversial double diffuser saga, as they had a faster car than eventual champions Brawn GP in the second half of the season.
Newey too revealed in an interview last year that one of the proudest moments of his career was building the RB5, Red Bull’s 2009 car. “I think probably coming up with that 2009 car [was the proudest moment] because that’s what set us on the path [for championship wins in 2010 to 2013],” he revealed on the High-Performance podcast.
Now, Newey will hope to use his years of experience to guide Aston Martin to championship glory in the upcoming years.
With Newey, Aston Martin have all the ingredients to win
F1 is a team sport and just the arrival of Newey will not turn Aston Martin into title contenders. Team owner Lawrence Stroll is aware of the same and he has ensured to have all the ingredients in place to achieve success before Newey’s arrival.
By spending over a whopping $200 million, Stroll has set up a state-of-the-art facility in Silverstone, where they have a world-class wind tunnel to help produce a championship-winning car.
Moreover, the team has also redefined the roles in their organizational structure, with Andy Cowell taking up the role of CEO and team principal, with the hope that this will streamline their operations and make them more efficient.
With Cowell now set to lead Aston Martin, former team principal Mike Krack will now take care of trackside operations. Moreover, with Aston Martin also having successfully poached Enrico Cardile from Ferrari, they now have a very strong technical team, who can work with Newey to field a strong car when the regulations change in 2026.
Only time will tell if the fairytale story of Alonso winning a championship in a Newey car will come true or not.
