Adrian Newey has openly admitted that Aston Martin may have fallen short in communicating with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll during their troubled 2026 campaign.
The Silverstone-based team has endured a nightmare start to the season, with reliability and performance problems leaving both drivers struggling at the very back of the grid.
Aston Martin have collected just a single point from the opening nine grand prix weekends, a deeply disappointing return for a team that arrived in 2026 with genuine championship aspirations.
Newey joined the team in 2025 in a managing technical partner capacity and has since taken on team principal responsibilities as well, carrying the weight of turning the project around.
The partnership with new power unit supplier Honda has also gotten off to a troubled start, compounding the team’s difficulties and making for a hugely frustrating opening half of the season.
Speaking to media at Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory ahead of the British Grand Prix, Newey acknowledged that the situation had been “extremely frustrating” for both Alonso and Stroll.
The 44-year-old Alonso is the most experienced Formula 1 driver in the history of the sport, and Newey stressed the importance of keeping him properly informed about the team’s plans and direction.
Newey said he feels compelled to spend time “going through with both Fernando and Lance exactly what we’re doing, what we have planned with the upgrade package, what we have planned through going into the 2027 season.”
“Whilst it might not seem like it, we are very much listening to their comments and trying to act upon it,” Newey continued, underlining the team’s commitment to taking driver feedback seriously.
He also acknowledged the human cost of poor communication, saying “if people don’t feel as if they’re being heard then they of course get very frustrated; it’s human reactions.”
Newey then accepted a degree of fault on the team’s part, admitting “perhaps we’ve been guilty of not spending enough time with Fernando and Lance, Jak here, kind of going through exactly what we are trying to achieve with the upgrade package.”
The reference to Jak Crawford, Aston Martin’s reserve driver, suggests the team is aiming to improve its dialogue across the entire driver group as it searches for a path back to competitiveness.
Aston Martin’s failure to score consistent points stands in stark contrast to the optimism that surrounded the team when Newey first signed, bringing with him a legacy of 26 world championships won across his illustrious career.
With the British Grand Prix on home soil representing an opportunity to rebuild momentum, both Newey and the wider Aston Martin organisation will be desperate to demonstrate that progress is being made on and off the track.