Helmut Marko drops Adrian Newey tease as Aston Martin surge continues
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko is convinced that Adrian Newey’s “influence” is starting to show at Aston Martin in light of the team’s recent F1 2025 revival.
Newey officially started work with Aston Martin in March following his high-profile exit from Red Bull last year.
Helmut Marko suspects Adrian Newey ‘influence’ on Aston Martin revivalThe 66-year-old was appointed to the newly created role of managing technical partner, as well as becoming a shareholder in the F1 team.
Newey is leading the development of Aston Martin’s first car – expected to be named the AMR26 – for the new regulations in F1 2026, which will mark the start of the team’s technical partnership with Honda.
Although his main focus is on F1 2026, Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell told media including PlanetF1.com earlier this season that the design guru has had several “lunchtime conversations” over ways to improve the 2025 car.
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After introducing a major upgrade package ahead of the summer break, Aston Martin has enjoyed a significant performance boost over recent weeks with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll scoring points at three of the last four races.
That run has seen Alonso secure the team’s best result of the F1 2025 season so far by finishing fifth in Hungary.
Aston Martin’s upturn in performance has left Marko convinced that Newey is already having an impact on his new team.
He told Sky Germany: “I don’t know, but Newey is always an advantage.
“The jump is really huge. At Spa, they were still last or [the] penultimate [team on pace], and now they are regularly driving in the points.
“Surely that points to someone there having some influence.”
Marko’s comments come after Alonso and Stroll spoke glowingly of Newey’s impact at Aston Martin ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
Asked if he is starting to understand what makes Newey tick, Alonso told media including PlanetF1.com at Zandvoort: “Yes, definitely.
“You spend more time with him and you keep learning things and how he works and how he approaches things, challenges, all these normal day-by-day, things in Formula 1.
“But I think he’s still a person that is very special and I think only few people will understand him fully and will be able to know exactly what he’s thinking and what he’s doing.
“So we will need more time. At the moment, we are in a phase of learning from him.
“Every conversation, every idea, everything that he says, we take it very carefully.
“We listen and we try to understand the approach that he’s taking into that comment.
“And thanks to that, I think we are growing as a team, so it has been very special for sure.”
Asked if Newey is starting to understand him too, Alonso replied: “I think so!
“I think all the questions and all the ideas that he raises, he explains why he thinks that it’s going to be a good solution for the team, for the car and for the drivers as well.
“In terms of how to approach the corner entry, maybe next year is very different than this year’s cars.
“Top speed is going to be different next year. Tyres are going to be different next year.
“So he tries to anticipate what the drivers will face in certain moments on the lap, in quali, versus the race and all this kind of thing.
“So he’s very educative.”
More on Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll from PlanetF1.comStroll revealed that Newey has entered a deep state of concentration as he continues work on the Honda-powered AMR26 for next season.
He added: “Adrian right now is in a trance focused on drawing next year’s car.
“We spent some time together and it’s always great just hearing what he has to say and just talking about the future.
“But right now, it’s full focus on making next year’s machine.
“He’s been doing it for this long and he’s won more championships than anyone in this paddock, so I guess that says it all.”
Asked why he smiles so much when talking about Newey, he replied: “I think there’s not much reason not to smile about Adrian Newey making next year’s car, so it’s all exciting times.
“I think he’s just so passionate and excited about the new regs.
“That’s what’s awesome to see, just how much passion, focus, effort is going into the new new regs and the team too.
“Just being in a new environment, new team, he’s just uplifting everyone and just creating this healthier culture inside of the whole factory.
“That’s pretty awesome to see. Also very exciting. All of it.
“Just all the pieces of the puzzle coming together and it’s just an exciting time for us as a team.”
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