Adrian Newey opens up on Aston Martin distraction as Wheatley move edges closer

Adrian Newey has admitted that he has found the Aston Martin team principal role “a little bit” distracting from his design-and-development work with the AMR26.

It comes after Audi F1 confirmed the departure of team boss Jonathan Wheatley on Friday, clearing the way for him to step into Newey’s role at Aston Martin.

Jonathan Wheatley set to take over from Adrian Newey as Aston Martin boss

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Newey joined Aston Martin in March last year in the role of managing technical partner, as well as becoming a team shareholder, following a highly successful spell at Red Bull.

The 67-year-old was appointed Aston Martin’s team principal in the closing weeks of the 2025 season, marking Newey’s first step into F1 team management.

Newey has offered numerous hints over recent months that his promotion to the top job was only intended to be a temporary measure, revealing at last year’s Qatar Grand Prix that he was keen to ensure that his new responsibilities did not detract from his development work.

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PlanetF1.com revealed on Wednesday that Newey has been actively leading Aston Martin’s search for a new team principal with Audi F1 boss Wheatley emerging as the prime candidate.

Audi F1 went on to announce the departure of Wheatley on Friday ahead of his expected switch to Aston Martin.

Newey and Wheatley previously worked together at Red Bull, playing key roles in the team’s success with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen before the pair both left Milton Keynes in 2024.

PlanetF1.com understands that Wheatley’s skillset and personality type has appealed to Newey in the hunt for a new Aston Martin team principal.

Wheatley, a former F1 mechanic who held the role of sporting director for a number of years at Red Bull, is renowned as a fine organiser.

He was widely credited for the Red Bull pit crew’s standard-setting performances during his stint with the team.

Sauber also saw a much-improved pit-stop performance following Wheatley’s arrival after a number of mishaps in 2024, with the team also ending a 13-year wait for a podium finish with Nico Hulkenberg’s third place at the 2025 British Grand Prix.

Newey admitted at the recent Australian Grand Prix that he has found the role of team principal “a little bit” distracting from his “core job” since his appointment.

Asked if he is able to devote the time he would like to improving the performance of the car, he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I try.

“I think for that I rely on an extremely talented group of senior department heads.

“We have our new HR recruit, she’s going to be very good. She’s only one week into the job and straight away up to speed.

“We have, in Enrico Cardile, a very talented CTO. Our COO Paul Field is also very experienced and bringing a lot to the team.

“It’s those key people – [and] others [like] Robert Yeowart [chief financial officer] – that I rely on so that I can be very efficient with my time.

“So actually on the engineering lead, with Enrico, I have to spend less time than I did at RB doing, if you like, cultural coaching, whatever you want to call it, or trying to instil the right environment and working practices, which of course, same as with RB.

“That was a lot of work early on. As the organisation matures, then it becomes more self-managing.

“I think, when I look at where we are with AMR now, then similar challenges to when I first started at RB of working practice, communication, silos, all the things we know and love and try to break down.

“I think the personnel, the staff that I see at AMR, are a very, very talented group that we just needed to get them working together and between each other and so forth much better than they had been.

“That’s well developed now. It’s well on the right path. We’ve of course got work to do.

“So do I feel as if it’s distracting me from my core job of trying to work with everybody, work on my own, to come up with ideas, development directions, et cetera, et cetera? A little bit.

“Certainly, the big distraction at the moment has been the work we’re putting into trying to work with Honda to assist them.

“But overall, I feel that once everything’s settled down with that senior management plan in place, or group in place, then no, I’m not worried about it.”

He added: “I think my title of team principal, the difference compared to how I operated, for instance, at Red Bull, is that at Red Bull I was doing a very similar role but confined to the engineering department.

“In this role it’s the whole company, so it’s a bigger role in that sense.

“But in many ways it’s an extension of what I’ve been doing for many years.”

Aston Martin’s Lawrence Stroll reaffirmed his confidence in Newey on Friday, shortly after Audi confirmed Wheatley’s exit.

In a statement issued to PlanetF1.com by Aston Martin, Stroll said: “With the current speculation surrounding Adrian Newey’s role in our team, I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

“As Executive Chairman and Controlling Shareholder, I would like to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and an important shareholder.

“He is AMR’s Managing Technical Partner and he and I have a true partnership built on a shared vision of success for the company.

“We do things differently here and while we don’t currently adopt the traditional Team Principal role that you see elsewhere – it is by design.

“As the most successful engineer ​in the history of the sport, Adrian’s primary focus is on the strategic and technical leadership where he excels.

“He is supported by a highly skilled Senior Leadership Team to deliver on all aspects of the business, both at the Campus and trackside.

“We are regularly approached by senior executives of other teams who wish to join Aston Martin Aramco, but in keeping with our policy, we do not comment on rumour and speculation.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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