The signing of Adrian Newey is arguably the only good news from Aston Martin in 2024. After another season of poor development, changes are taking place to their technical hierarchy. This restructuring will define Aston’s approach to the 2026 regulations.
Big changes behind the scenes at Aston Martin
Adrian Newey, Enrico Cardile and Andy Cowell are some of the high-profile figures to join Aston Martin this year.
Inevitably, this influx of senior personnel was going to result in some engineers losing their positions.
The first casualty of this restructuring is Dan Fallows, who leaves the role of technical director – a position he took in April 2022.
Pressure has only mounted on Fallows since the end of 2023, with Lawrence Stroll growing increasingly frustrated with the team’s stagnation.
In the space of a twelve months, Aston Martin went from Red Bull’s closest challengers to a team struggling to score points.
Considering Red Bull’s own struggles with development, Aston’s failure to progress has cost them a chance of solidifying themselves at the front.
Ahead of the new 2026 regulations, no stone is being left unturned at the Silverstone-based squad.
Having failed to prove he is capable of leading development, Dan Fallows will make way for a new selection of technical minds.
Adrian Newey is the key
Newey’s official title at Aston Martin is ‘Managing Technical Partner’. In essence, this means the 65-year-old will be in charge of the team’s entire technical and development process.
This is hardly a surprise. After all, Lawrence Stroll would not have fought so hard to sign Newey to put him in a lesser role.
When Adrian Newey’s ‘gardening leave’ ends in March 2025, he will officially begin working at Aston Martin.
However, the British squad are already making adjustments in preparation for his arrival. With January 1st set as the date teams are permitted to begin development on the 2026 cars, it is crucial that Adrian Newey can integrate quickly.
Because of this, adjustments are being made to ensure he can hit the ground running.
This is something Newey discussed in September when his move was announced.
Enrico Cardile, who was formerly technical director at Ferrari, is another big-name signing Aston Martin completed this year.
The Italian engineer, on paper, can fill the role left vacant by Dan Fallows’ departure.
In many ways, Aston’s next steps are predicated on how Newey and Cardile to allocate responsibilities.
With a fresh simulator, wind tunnel and new factory campuses ready to be used in 2025, all the necessary infrastructure is in place.
The question is whether a revamped technical team is capable of getting up to speed for the new regulations.
