Why Adrian Newey is more valuable than ever in F1 2026

With 2026’s sweeping F1 rules forcing teams to do more with less, the sport’s most experienced designers, like Adrian Newey, have never been more valuable.

Changes to the chassis and engine regulations, coupled with limited resources and testing restrictions, increase the challenge for F1 design teams. Teams now face the challenge of extracting maximum performance from fewer resources, placing a premium on experience and technical know-how.

Why Adrian Newey’s expertise is critical in F1 2026

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F1 2026 brings with it an all-new regulatory era with an increased reliance on hybrid systems, the introduction of sustainable fuel, and sweeping new chassis regulations.

That includes a move away from ground effects, back to overbody aerodynamics, similar to pre-2022 designs, but with the addition of active aero.

Complicating matters are financial regulations that effectively limit the resources teams have available to develop their cars, and testing restrictions based on their constructors’ championship performance.

“Right now, people like Adrian Newey are so much more valuable,” Dr Sammy Diasinos, a Doctor of Aerodynamics who worked with Toyota, Williams, and Caterham, told PlanetF1.com.

“When you’ve got limited development time, you have to hedge your bets in the direction that you’re going to develop in.

“You can’t have half the department going off in one direction, and the other half going in a different direction.

“With limited wind tunnel and CFD runs, you have to commit to a clear direction.

“That’s why I think someone like Adrian is so valuable right now, because he has all this experience. He has a head full of 30 years of aerodynamic development and he knows roughly what works and what doesn’t.

“I don’t think there’s many people on that level in Formula 1,” he added.

“It’ll be interesting to see how Aston Martin goes now they have him at their disposal.”

Prior to the introduction of the cost cap in 2021, the leading teams had the capability to ramp up their workforce in anticipation of major rule changes.

It served to increase the performance gap between the front and rear of the grid and create an unsustainable financial environment for the teams.

That transformation took place over decades, growing as the importance of aerodynamics in motorsport did.

“Back in the ‘70s and the ‘80s when the aerodynamics departments were quite small, there was probably a reliance on a handful of people who were very experienced and knew what they were doing,” Diasinos noted.

“Then we got to the late ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s, where the departments just blew up.”

By the time Diasinos arrived in F1 in the mid-2000s, things had stepped up even further, with entire departments focused on every nuance of car design.

“Almost everything could be investigated,” he said.

“There was a lot of refinement going on as well; move this component five millimetres to the left; move it five to the right; does it give you half a point of downforce or efficiency improvement?”

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It was that freedom that larger teams began to exploit as technical departments exploded in size with teams dedicated to specific sections of the car.

As departments became more specialised, the broader expertise once common in F1 — typified by Newey who has worked in the sport since the 1980s — faded from the grid.

The cost cap has done much to level the playing field, and transform teams from loss-making operations into businesses with billion-dollar valuations.

But while arguably saving the sport from itself, it introduced a new variable, forcing teams to consider and plan how they manage their workforce. It began to swing the needle away from narrow subject matter experts, and back towards broad expertise.

Add in Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions — a sliding scale of limitations first introduced in 2009 — and teams at the back of the grid gain a technical advantage, with greater scope to develop than those at the front. As a result, the value of every minute in the wind tunnel and every CFD run increased sharply.

While that has done much to equalise the teams, it can never equalise individuals, making engineers and designers like Newey more valuable than ever.

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