Adrian Newey has not yet lent his renowned expertise to Aston Martin's 2025 car.
During recent pre-season testing in Bahrain, the green-liveried cars showed a lack of pace, prompting key figures like Fernando Alonso to shift focus to the major regulation changes coming in 2026.
"I think we've taken a step forward," Alonso said in Melbourne, "but it seems like everyone else has done the same thing."
Team principal Andy Cowell struck a slightly more positive tone.
"We have a car that we believe is better than last year's in many ways," he said. "But, as always, there are always areas to work on.
"We're definitely not where we'd like to be. There are areas in the corners, areas on the straights, where we're working to improve the car, some of which we can do here while others require more development work to improve both the aerodynamic and mechanical platforms."
Newey began his tenure at Aston Martin's Silverstone base just ten days ago, following a stint of 'gardening leave'.
"He didn't want ceremonial presentations - he arrived and went straight into a concept meeting," said Cowell.
When pressed on Newey's activities since March 3, Cowell elaborated: "He's learning the 2026 regulations, understanding them, digging deeper into the work we've been doing, understanding that, contributing ideas to the drawing board."
Cowell openly confirmed that Newey's efforts have been entirely directed at the radically different 2026 car.
"I'm smiling to myself," he told Marca sports newspaper, "and I won't give you the details because I don't want our opponents to know.
"But there are a couple of areas where people are already asking 'Can we really push it in this direction?' 'Can we really do that?' And the engineers are looking at it and saying 'Yeah, ok, let's try that'.
"I think that's the Adrian effect," Cowell added. "He spots the areas where things need to be pushed, and everyone buys into it."
With Aston Martin braced for a tough start with its current car, Cowell remained guarded when asked if Newey might offer tweaks to boost its speed.
"So far, he's been completely focused on the 2026 car, drawing up the designs for it," he said.
