Aston Martin must not sit back and wait for Newey to start

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack says his Formula 1 squad cannot just sit back and wait for Adrian Newey to arrive before thinking it can make big progress.

The Silverstone-based squad has pulled off a massive coup in securing Newey’s services in the wake of his departure from the championship-winning Red Bull squad.

But, due to the terms of his Red Bull contract, he cannot start work for Aston Martin until March next year – when his impact will be mainly focused on the 2026 challenger.

While Newey’s capture is a big boost for the future, Krack says that Aston Martin must not now let excitement cloud its current task – which is turning around its fortunes on track.

With Aston having slipped down the order this season, Krack is clear that progress has to be made before Newey’s arrival.

Asked how hard it was balancing the excitement for Newey and the 2026 project against its current difficulties, Krack said: “Very hard. Absolutely.

“But I think we should also use ‘25 as an opportunity to show Adrian what we can do. I think that should serve as a motivation for all of us.”

Pushed on the potential danger of people sitting back and simply waiting for Newey to get going, Krack said: “If I identify that one, it will not be for long.”

While Newey has already visited the Aston Martin factory and spoken to senior staff, his input remains limited because he is still under contract to Red Bull.

Krack said that just how much dialogue he and Newey could have before he officially started was something that was not in his hands.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I need to check with our legal department.

“I think you need to be very careful with these things. You know, we do not want to get into legal [matters] going forward. That would just not feel right.”

Krack is clear that, having fought for podium finishes at the start of last season, simply contending for the lower-ranking points right now is not good enough for Aston Martin.

“We are not where we want to be,” he said. “Our target was clearly to close the gap to the top four teams.

“At the beginning of the season, we knew that we were around the fifth-fastest at the time, and the target was to close that gap.

“We have not managed that. Others have more caught up than we have closed. So that is the reality and that is something we have to understand and…