Aston Martin: The new Formula 1 car is “one of the most extreme interpretations” of the new rules

Formula 1 design legend Adrian Newey says Aston Martin’s new car is “one of the most extreme interpretations” of this year’s new rules.

Newey’s comments came as Aston Martin launched its new season on Monday, at a lavish event in Saudi Arabia that was plagued by technical problems and only revealed the color scheme of the 2026 car, not the team’s new design.

That was waiting for us across the King Fahd Causeway at the Bahrain International Circuit, where the second pre-season test begins on Wednesday.

Newey, who joined Aston Martin as managing technology partner in March last year, told BBC Sport: “It feels a bit different to some of the other solutions out there.

“Just like in 2022, there is a new set of aerodynamic regulations, and there have been a lot of different interpretations. Whether it is right or wrong, only time will tell.”

Rivals have expressed their admiration for the new Aston Martin, which was tested in an all-black livery for just one of the three days allowed in a so-called “shakedown” test in Spain last month.

Newey admitted that the car was not painted there partly because it was ready so late that the team did not have time to do so.

Teams were allowed to run on three of the five days a week at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but the Aston Martin was only ready in time for the exit late in the afternoon of the fourth day, when it broke down after four laps with Lance Stroll at the wheel. Fernando Alonso then ran just over 60 laps on the final day of testing.

Mercedes driver George Russell, the favorite for the new season, described the car as “absolutely stunning” and said that it was “perhaps the most distinctive in terms of car design and looks very impressive.”

Williams team principal James Vowles said it was a “really interesting design”.

“Because of the very compressed design time, we decided one direction, one direction, that we were going to follow. And that’s what we did,” said Newey, who has a reputation for usually being at the forefront of innovation when new rules are introduced.

Newey joins a team that has already gone through a series of management changes in the past two years, while commissioning a new factory, wind tunnel and driver simulator at the loop.

He said the process of designing this year’s car, the team’s first as Honda’s engine partner, was an “incredibly compressed cycle”.

“Overall, it was very stimulating and invigorating, and exhausting at times as well, of course. But what I found was a lot of very talented people on an individual level who weren’t necessarily working well together. And that’s what we really tried to focus on,” he added.

He said the team had tried to focus on getting the fundamentals right for the start of the season “in the hope that this will allow us a great deal of development potential during the season”.

Aston Martin chose the Ithra Design Museum to unveil the car in its latest color scheme at an event paid for by its official sponsor, the Saudi National Oil Company.

But the event started about 20 minutes late, and the live stream cut off after another five minutes.