Who Is Andy Cowell: 12-Time Mercedes Title Winner Taking Over Aston Martin as Team Principal and CEO?

Aston Martin’s overhaul of their F1 operations continues as they gear up for a season of transition in 2025 with Adrian Newey coming in March this year. After technical director Dan Fallows’ designation was changed last year, the latest names to have a role change at the Silverstone outfit are Andy Cowell and Mike Krack.

Cowell, who had joined Aston Martin as the Group CEO to replace Martin Whitmarsh, has now also become the team principal, a role that Krack held for the past three seasons. Krack will now take up the role of Chief Trackside officer, focusing on maximizing the car’s potential on track.

While announcing Newey’s arrival last year in September, the Silverstone team had hinted at a structural shake-up with the former Red Bull CTO joining as the Managing Technical Partner. Cowell‘s appointment as the CEO and team principal could be even more game-changing for Aston Martin.

The 55-year-old Briton has extensive experience in engine development and has been a key cog in the Mercedes F1 setup during their peak dominance period from 2014 to 2019, winning six drivers’ and six constructors’ titles. His efforts paid massive dividends as the Silver Arrows ruled the turbo-hybrid era with the most powerful and reliable engine in the field.

Couple that with Newey‘s aerodynamic brilliance and Aston Martin could produce a highly competitive package for the upcoming 2026 regulations. Cowell, who moved out of Mercedes in June 2020, has been working with Aston Martin since October 2024 as the Group CEO and assessing their processes and performance.

Newey has also hinted at such a period of learning in his first few months with the team. So, it is a given that Aston Martin are mainly focusing on making their 2026 car the best by harnessing Cowell and Newey’s brilliance.

How does the Aston Martin technical structure look under Newey and Cowell?

It was a no-brainer that team owner Lawrence Stroll would give a free pass to Newey to re-organize the team’s technical structure per his liking. The Race also reported how Aston Martin will look to mold their technical personnel into different roles.

This approach saw technical director Fallows take a different role in the British car company itself, away from the F1 operation. The Silverstone outfit’s dip in performance since the second half of 2023 has been the major reason for this reshuffle of personnel.

Moreover, the upcoming arrivals of figures like Enrico Cardile, who will take up the role of Chief Technical officer, may have also motivated the team to foresee and avoid any potential philosophical conflicts on technical aspects between the former Ferrari technical director and Fallows. Cardile will mainly focus on the design and architecture of new race cars.

In addition to the Italian engineer, Aston Martin’s new structure will also house former Alpine man Bob Bell as executive director and former Mercedes man Eric Blandin as deputy technical director. Meanwhile, performance director Tom McCollough will move into a different role of expanding the team’s racing programs into different categories beyond F1.

All in all, Aston Martin have restructured all of its key roles to put in fresh perspectives and prepare for a proper step forward in performance under the senior leadership of Newey and Cowell. Ideally, they would want to hit the ground running in 2026 with these A-list technical personnel from across the F1 paddock and fight for wins and the title.