The ‘genius’ admission
A few weeks ago, in a long ‘mea culpa’ interview in which he took responsibility for Aston Martin’s flop this 2026 season, Adrian Newey has admitted to perhaps having paid too little attention to observations that had come from the team’s drivers – Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and third driver Jak Crowford – regarding the problems and development of the Silverstone team’s single-seater. During the press conference on the eve of the Budapest weekend, Alonso himself was questioned by journalists present in the press room on this matter and effectively confirmed that there had been some difference in vision compared to the English ‘wizard’.
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A telling-off for Newey
“Adrian’s statements, I believe, are directed more at the past than at this year – Alonso explained – in the past I believe it’s true that we sometimes had different opinions on the race weekend, in terms of the feelings the car conveyed to us who were behind the wheel when we were battling with other single-seaters. In those cases, we sometimes returned to the factory, analyzed the data and discovered anomalies, strange aerodynamic behaviors that pointed in two different directions regarding the car’s behavior“.
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“Perhaps in those cases – observed the two-time world champion – in those debates, the data won over the driver’s feelings, whereas I think it’s a situation where both sides need to be listened to. Both the data, of course, but also the drivers’ feelings, because F1 is a very complex, very dynamic sport and changes every lap: there is never the same aerodynamic load, the same tire condition, the same aerodynamic load. There are many aspects that can affect the car’s balance, and that’s why the data is never 100% accurate and doesn’t fully represent the truth. That’s why both factors need to be combined, but Adrian has the best experience in the world in designing and developing a car, and I think we are on the right track”.
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