Indeed, Ferrari is still fighting to delay his start date<\/a>; Cardile\u2019s employment status is becoming F1\u2019s equivalent of Jarndyce vs Jarndyce, the never-ending probate case that provides the background for Charles Dickens\u2019 novel Bleak House.<\/p>\n Among the developments while Cardile attends to his gladioli has been the hiring of Adrian Newey to a new position somewhere north of chief technical officer in the food chain. When Newey first clocked in for work at the campus last month, he made it clear that learning the team and focusing on the upcoming 2026 ruleset would be his priorities: in previous career changes, when moving to McLaren<\/a> and then Red Bull, he did his utmost not to get involved in debugging their existing cars.<\/p>\n But, given Aston Martin\u2019s downbeat start to the 2025 season, that may not be an option.<\/p>\n Both cars were eliminated in Q2 in Australia, though Lance Stroll<\/a>\u2019s sixth-place finish ameliorated some of the angst arising from Fernando Alonso<\/a> crashing out. The Chinese Grand Prix panned out similarly after a point-less sprint race, with Stroll a distant ninth and Alonso an early retirement with brake failure from the midfield.<\/p>\n In Japan, Stroll qualified and finished last and was the only driver to be classified a lap down, unable to make a strategy of starting on soft-compound tyres work. Alonso was eliminated in Q2 as the car pivoted, like the almost 180-degree change in wind direction from Friday into Saturday, from being reasonably quick to behaving like a bucking bronco.<\/p>\n Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing<\/p>\n Photo by: Andy Hone \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re not really fast enough to be in the top 10,\u201d Alonso told Spanish media after finishing 11th. \u201cI guess we’re not even fast enough to be in the top 18.<\/p>\n \u201cSo to be 11th is a bit of a miracle. Because, as I say, the car felt pretty consistent all race. It didn’t have much grip.\u00a0We also have the slowest car on the straights.\u201d<\/p>\n While some of Alonso\u2019s other remarks, such as holding this result up as one of his greatest races (a claim we\u2019ve surely heard before), were redolent with hyperbole, in this he was not very wrong. While Gabriel Bortoleto<\/a>\u2019s Sauber<\/a> was slowest through the speed trap in qualifying and Jack Doohan<\/a>\u2019s Alpine<\/a> tardiest in the race, neither Aston Martin driver was much faster \u2013 and they were over 8km\/h slower in the race than George Russell<\/a>\u2019s Mercedes<\/a>, the quickest car through the trap.<\/p>\n The opening rounds presented a similar but less extreme picture.<\/p>\n It all suggests the AMR25 lacks aerodynamic efficiency and the team is having to trade off straightline speed to try to find some cornering performance. This on top of the car being extremely sensitive to changes of wind direction, which was one factor blamed for Alonso\u2019s adventure into the Degner gravel trap on Friday.<\/p>\n Autosport understands that the Mondays after disappointing race weekends are uncomfortable ones at the Aston Martin factory as the owner breathes fire over his hapless employees. It is therefore inevitable that at some point Newey will be steered in the direction of the ailing 2025 project.<\/p>\n What form this input will take is unclear. F1 engineering doesn\u2019t quite follow the rules of the African savannah, where a young lion\u2019s first job upon taking the lead of a pride is to kill all his predecessor\u2019s offspring.<\/p>\n Newey told this author in a 2007 interview that, when he joined Red Bull the previous year, he \u201ctook some time to understand the existing car\u201d before putting all his energies into starting the next one from a clean sheet of paper. In his autobiography he was even less polite about what he found, why he took his most recent McLaren concept as a starting point instead, and why there was so little runway for change in Red Bull\u2019s 2006 car.<\/p>\n Newey casts a cynical eye over the existing Red Bull at the Barcelona test in early 2006<\/p>\n Photo by: Andre Vor \/ Sutton Images<\/p>\n \u201cThe car I drew was a better basis than the current 2006 Red Bull car,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwhich overheated, had poor downforce, handled poorly and had an unreliable gearbox. Apart from that it was OK!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Fernando](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/fernando-alonso-aston-martin-r.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Newey](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/dmc0622fe201.jpg\")
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