Adrian Newey in ‘design trance’ as F1 2026 prospects raised

Adrian Newey admitted he understands what his wife, Amanda, means when she has been telling him he is in a “design trance”, as key deadlines approach ahead of the F1 2026 season.

Newey moved to Aston Martin in the new role of managing technical partner to oversee the team’s 2026 development, with all-new power unit and chassis regulations coming to the sport next season.

Adrian Newey asked about F1 2026 prospects amid ‘design trance’ verdict

Formula 1’s feted ‘design guru’ left Red Bull after almost two decades with the team before signing with Aston Martin, heading up an engineering team of 300 people as focus moves to the all-important regulation changes next season.

Newey has been spending his time working on the 2026 car, and with such sweeping changes to the regulations, every car on the grid next season will have had to start from scratch.

Having gathered a long-held reputation for Formula 1 success, however, he admitted the fear of failure is part of the motivation behind doing the best possible job in the design process.

With the first F1 2026 test just two months away, it is all hands on deck at every team to try and hit the ground running in Barcelona at the end of January.

Given his vital role at Aston Martin, Newey acknowledged that his focus is on the task in front of him.

“Some of the motivation is that fear of failure,” Newey said in a video on Aston Martin’s official YouTube channel when asked if he is afraid of failure.

“I’ve tried to learn to use that constructively, because it’s that difference between too much pressure or pressure mismanaged causing mistakes, versus leading to quite a focused and tunnel vision-like state.

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“My wife, over the last three, four months since I’ve joined the team, complains that I’m in a ‘design trance’, and I understand what she means, that I don’t kind of see left and right, and I’m probably not terribly sociable.

“What limited processing power I have is all concentrated on the task in hand, given these pressing deadlines, but that’s not a state to stay in for too long, and that all sounds quite egotistical as well. It’s really ultimately all about the team and how we work together.”

The all-important question of how Aston Martin will perform relative to the rest of the field in 2026 has been one of the paddock’s curiosities since Newey made his move from Red Bull.

Having been hard at work on the team’s new design ahead of significant regulation changes in Formula 1, Newey said the team is in a phase of ‘settling down’ after a rapid expansion.

With that, will come the ‘first tick’ on the way to success.

“The honest answer is, I have absolutely no idea,” he replied when asked about Aston Martin’s 2026 prospects.

“We are in a period of transformation. We’ve, as a team, grown rapidly. It’s really in a now settling down phase, having grown hugely in numbers.

“We now need to settle everybody down, get them working well together.

“I’ve never been a believer in saying ‘we will now achieve this or now achieve that.’ I think the satisfaction comes from working together to move forwards. If we can achieve that in 2026, that will be the first tick.”

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