Fernando Alonso breaks silence on Adrian Newey taking over as Aston Martin's team principal

Fernando Alonso has given his take on Adrian Newey taking over as Aston Martin team boss and termed the move a logical step for the team. In a move that came as a surprise to many, early in the week, Lawrence Stroll announced that the team principal and CEO, Andy Cowell, was being replaced by Newey in that role.

Cowell, on his part, would move to a role that's more in line with trying to develop a synergy in the power unit side of things. Adrian Newey joined the Silverstone-based squad early this season in a role where he oversaw the technical development of the car.

Andy Cowell, on the other hand, was hired by Aston Martin on the basis of his success in the paddock in building the dominant Mercedes V6 Turbo Hybrid power unit. It has been reported that the differences between the two parties proved to be the reason behind Cowell being demoted to a different role.

Adrian Newey, a man who has built his career on being a brilliant technician, will take on a role of team management, something that has been skeptically looked at by many as not within his skill set. Fernando Alonso, however, doesn't agree with the notion, as he feels that Newey's promotion is a logical step. Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the Spaniard said,

"Not really. We were discussing more technical stuff about the car than any other thing or future dreams, but yeah, it's good news. He was, anyway, managing in a way the technical development of the car, but also the team, the people that were needed and taking care of which areas we need to reinforce as a team, which other areas were less important."

He added,

"So, in a way, he was doing internally a lot of management and Andy was doing a lot of management as well on the engine side and engine integration to the chassis. It was maybe a normal logic step into 2026.”

Fernando Alonso feels the team leadership is in the right hands

Aston Martin is a team now that's led by Adrian Newey as a team principal, Andy Cowell will be the chief strategy officer managing the synergy between the team and the power unit side, while Lawrence Stroll oversees all of this.

Fernando Alonso backed the leadership of the team as he felt that the right people are in the right positions for now, and hopefully, the team would have a better car for 2026. He said,

"We have probably the two best people. One doing the chassis and the team, one [doing] the engine integration and the team as well. And we have a very strong leader with Lawrence, with the determination that Lawrence has and the commitment that he's shown for many, many years already. So between the three of them, I think we are in good hands. Let's move into 2026 with hopefully a better car.”

Fernando Alonso's contract with Aston Martin expires at the end of the 2026 F1 season. His future with the team is going to depend on how good or bad the car is going to be, and if he thinks he can invest more time in the project.