Adrian Newey is considered one of the greatest engineers in the history of Formula 1, if not the most brilliant of all, but his career has not been without resounding failures…
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His time at McLaren in the early 2000s, as well as his current situation at Aston Martin, shows that he has sometimes launched extremely ambitious projects that took time to bear fruit.
Arriving at McLaren in 1997 after his time at Williams, Newey quickly delivered two world titles to Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and 1999. Afterwards, however, the team struggled more to compete with Ferrari, notably due to particularly bold technical choices.
A McLaren too radical
The most famous example remains the 2003 MP4-18. True to his reputation, Newey pushed the limits of design with a very innovative car. But the project turned out to be a real fiasco: the car lacked power, suffered from serious reliability issues, several components broke during testing, and some even caught fire due to overheating.
Ultimately, McLaren completely abandoned this project and decided to race with an evolution of the MP4-17, the MP4-17D, which still allowed Kimi Räikkönen to finish as runner-up in the world championship, just two points from the title. McLaren management then reportedly limited Newey’s influence on the 2004 car, considering some of his ideas too extreme.
It was only after a major mid-season upgrade that several of his concepts were finally integrated. This car then served as the basis for the 2005 MP4-20, which won nine Grands Prix — more than any other team that year — even though Fernando Alonso and Renault ultimately took both world titles.
The bar set very high for Aston Martin
This trajectory today recalls what Aston Martin is experiencing. Like at McLaren in 2003, Newey arrived with a very ambitious concept for the AMR26, which attracted attention in the paddock. But the team was significantly behind in development, the car suffered from strong vibrations, the new Honda engine lacked performance, and some elements, like the mirrors, even had reliability issues. At the start of the season, the AMR26 was up to five seconds behind the best.
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Encouraging signs first appeared at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Aston Martin gained about two seconds compared to the start of the season thanks to a major technical upgrade.
Admittedly, the car is still far from the level of the best. Fernando Alonso only qualified 16th, more than 2.5 seconds off pole position, before finishing the Grand Prix a lap down. Nevertheless, the progress seen in Hungary strengthens optimism within the team. With the new Honda engine upgrade expected at Zandvoort, Aston Martin now hopes to regularly reach Q2 and fight for points.
Will history repeat itself?
The similarities with McLaren’s history are striking. At the time, it took time to transform a radical concept into a car capable of winning.
At Aston Martin, the context is also particular since the AMR26 is not yet a creation entirely signed by Newey: he had to urgently revise the initial concept after his arrival, while the new wind tunnel was not yet operational.
It is therefore mainly the 2027 car that will truly allow judging his work. Given what he has already managed to accomplish in the past after difficult beginnings, Aston Martin can legitimately hope that Newey will once again be able to transform a struggling project into a car capable of competing at the front.
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