Aston Martin's Adrian Newey gives his honest verdict on the controversial 2026 F1 regulations

Aston Martin's aero wizard Adrian Newey felt that while the 2026 F1 regulations looked prescriptive, the devil was in the details. The regulations next season have courted a lot of controversy on different levels, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that it could potentially prove to be a detriment to the sport.

The first aspect continues to be the complex power unit that would make its debut next season. The power unit is expected to have a 50-50 split, with half of the power produced expected to be electric. The issues do not end there. We will have a return to active aerodynamics, a concept that has not been a part of the sport since the early 1990s (Aston Martin's latest recruit, Adrian Newey, was at the forefront of that as well).

The active aerodynamics also means that one of the crucial tools for overtaking in F1, the DRS, would become redundant. While that is one aspect, the other worrying bit is that the minimum weight of the car has been slashed by almost 80 kgs, and no car is expected to reach that value by 2026.

In an interview with Aston Martin's official website, Adrian Newey gave his take on the regulations and felt that, just like in 2022, at the start of the regulations, there's room for different approaches, before the designs start to converge. He said:

"My thoughts on the '26 regulations are similar to what my thoughts were about the big regulation change for 2022: initially thinking the regulations were so prescriptive that there wasn't much left here [for a designer], but then you start to drill into the detail and realize there's more flexibility for innovation and different approaches than first meets the eye. We saw that at the start of 2022, with teams taking really quite different directions."

He added:

"Now, of course, four seasons on, they've largely converged, but initially that wasn't the case. Variation between teams is great. It's all a bit boring if the cars look identical and the only way you can tell them apart is the livery. I think there's a high probability that in '26 we’ll see something similar to '22. There's enough flexibility in the regulations, and I'm sure people will come up with different solutions. Some of those will be dropped over the first two or three years as teams start to converge."

Adrian Newey on Aston Martin's works partnership with Honda

For Aston Martin, the 2026 F1 regulations are a new dawn because it would be the first year for the squad as a works unit. The squad starts its partnership with Honda, a power unit manufacturer that has been closest to Mercedes in terms of success in the turbo hybrid era.

Just like Newey, Honda is also an import from Red Bull for Aston Martin. Newey also outlined the importance of the PU partner, as he said:

"The other aspect of this is that, for the first time I can remember, we've got both the chassis regulations and power unit regulations changing at the same time. This is... interesting... and slightly scary. Both the new aerodynamic rules and the PU regulations present opportunities. I would expect to see a range of aero solutions and there could be variation in PU performance across the grid to begin with – which is what happened when the hybrid regulations first came in, in 2014."

He added:

"Next year marks the start of our works partnership with Honda. I've got a lot of trust in Honda and a huge amount of respect for them, having worked with them before. They took a year out of F1 and so, to some extent, they're playing catch-up, but they're a great group of engineers and very much an engineering-led company."

Aston Martin is one team that everyone will be keeping an eye on in 2026. With Newey and Honda onboard, the team could do some serious damage in the championship.