Aston Martin F1 still focused on 2025 despite 2026 regulations and Newey arrival

Aston Martin made one of the biggest signings of the 2024 Formula 1 season by landing fabled designer Adrian Newey – but he will not start his role as managing technical partner until March, with plenty suggesting his impact on the team will not be truly felt until the regulation changes of 2026. 

However, for managing director Jefferson Slack, there is no reason why Aston Martin should write off its 2025 aspirations despite a drop-off in performance over the previous year.

With two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso retained alongside Lance Stroll, the team would arguably be forgiven for turning its attention towards 2026 and the first true Newey-inspired Aston Martin. 

Speaking after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso said that he was “ready to go in 2025, with a little bit of a reset on things” and that “the car, I think we learned a lot of things...we need to apply into next year’s project.” 

Slack is approaching next season from a similar position and insists the team also owes it to its partners to maintain and improve on-track performance. 

“We've got some new management in now and I think they're trying to be competitive in 2025 - nobody's given up on ‘25 clearly,” he told Autosport.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“The hires that we have, Adrian starts on March 1, and I’m not a technical guy but he will have the biggest impact on the car in ‘26 and of course, everybody's been playing that game of when to give up on the 2025 car and look ahead to the big regulation changes.

“Our technical staff will have to decide that, but I can tell you we are not giving up on 2025, we are focused on being really competitive and in developing well over the winter.

"Then in 2026, a lot of the puzzle will be in place with our staffing, Adrian embedded fully and also having our engine deal with Honda and our wind tunnel. 

“We welcomed a lot of new and exciting partners in 2024 and, alongside Aramco and Cognizant, we can’t just say ‘guys, let's write off 2025 and we will be at the front in 2026 – it doesn't work like that.” 

PUMA, Glenfidditch, Xerox and Ma’aden all joined Aston Martin as new partners towards the end of the 2024 season. 

The majority of the team’s partners are American-based organisations and Slack believes the continued growth of F1 in the United States will continue to see more and more businesses from the country look towards the series. 

“It's an incredible line-up that Formula 1 has put together." he added. "I think what we've seen is that the US companies that would have, 10, 15 years ago, looked at Formula 1 as solely a European marketing platform.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“Now it has become one of the singular global platforms. So if you're a big company today and you want to have a global community from a marketing standpoint, you have Champions League; a great property, but still football, limited time, evening, all the matches are only played in Europe. That's the challenge.  

“Every four years you have the World Cup, the greatest property there is, but three or four weeks in the summer every four years.

"So that is where Formula 1 is really doing a great job, because it's cracked the US market and also has a good foothold in Asia...and Europe is already embedded. You're a big company, where do you look? And that's why you've seen a flood of new business opportunities.” 

Liberty Media was keen to finally make F1 hit in America and has done so with a combination of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, as well as three distinct races in Austin, Las Vegas and Miami – but Slack thinks the country could still expand its presence on the F1 calendar. 

“I don’t think it's the limit,” he said. “The country could sustain more. It's not my area of expertise and it's up to Formula 1 to figure out where they want to go - but absolutely, I think the US could sustain another race or two.”