F1 News: Newey having ‘conversations’ about slow 2025 car

(GMM) Adrian Newey says Aston Martin has not given up on improving the woefully uncompetitive 2025 car.

Formula 1’s most famous and highly-paid designer, who recently switched from Red Bull, has been working almost exclusively on the team’s all-new 2026 car since he arrived at Silverstone in March.

However, rumors have been swirling that team owner Lawrence Stroll is furious that the 2025 car, with which Fernando Alonso has so far failed to score even a single point, is so uncompetitive.

“Lawrence understandably wants us to do as well as we can in 2025,” Newey said this week in a rare interview.

“So there’s a small team still working on this year’s car from an aerodynamics point of view. I’ve had a few lunchtime conversations with that small group, discussing the car and what we can do about it,” he added.

Newey, 66, said Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll – Lawrence’s son – are also still actively involved with the process of speeding up the AMR25.

“I’ve spoken extensively with both Lance and Fernando, getting their input on the strengths and weaknesses of the current car, the correlation between the current car and the simulator, and so on,” said the Briton.

“The drivers are an essential part of the feedback loop of how you modify the engineering organization and the way you go about things.”

Normally a regular face in the Formula 1 paddock, including on the grid with his famous notebook and pen, Newey has been absent so far this season as he focuses on his specialty – mastering a set of radical new regulations from the outset.

Explaining his absence from the paddock in 2025, the Briton said: “The deadlines we have in modern F1 seem to be far earlier than they used to be 20 years ago, and there are a lot of them coming up for the 2026 car, which is where my concentration has been.”

However, when asked when fans may catch a glimpse of him, Newey answered: “I plan to be in Monaco. With the notebook.”