Newey will also work on 2025 Aston Martin car

Jan.27 (GMM) Other team members are not backing Fernando Alonso’s claim that success will “certainly not” come for Formula 1 team Aston Martin in 2025.

Since a solid start to the 2023 season and comprehensive team infrastructure investments ever since, the ambitious Silverstone based team’s in-season car development notably stagnated over the past 18 months.

“Certainly not in 2025,” Alonso told a recent DAZN special when asked if he can be a race winner and title contender again. “The cars will be the same as last year and it will be practically impossible for us to make such a big jump.

“Hopefully it will be better than in 2024, but we will not win the championship. There are changes coming in the regulations and Adrian Newey will start working on the 2026 project from April.”

However, departed Red Bull technical guru Newey has now told Auto Motor und Sport that he actually will be working on the 2025 car once he starts work at the team in March.

“I will be focused on 2026,” he confirmed, “but Lawrence (Stroll) will definitely want me to be involved a bit with the 2025 car.

“Whether I can really contribute something this year or not, I have no idea until I start.”

New team boss Andy Cowell, meanwhile, is notably more optimistic than Alonso about the coming season.

“Can we win the world championship in 2025?” he said. “Who thinks we can? Nobody? Well, look what McLaren did. So why can’t we?”

Newey, however, warns that all the well-financed teams have basically maxed out the full potential of their existing ‘ground effect’ car concepts ahead of the final season of the current regulations.

He says the top four teams – McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes – all look like potential race winners for 2025. “It’s a clear sign that we have come pretty close to the limit,” Newey explained.

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur agrees. “There are no longer any upgrades that provide more than four or five points of usable downforce.”