Former Haas Formula 1 team chief Guenther Steiner has argued that Adrian Newey should have never taken the role of team principal at Aston Martin.
Newey joined the Silverstone outfit in 2025 as managing technical partner and shareholder, after almost two decades at Red Bull. It was later announced in November 2025 that Newey would also take the role of team principal for 2026, replacing Andy Cowell, who moved to chief strategy officer.
Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, Steiner argued that Newey should not have taken on the additional responsibilities.
"No," he said when asked if Newey should have stepped up to the additional role. "And I think if you would ask Adrian here, he would say, 'I don't know why I did this or why I agreed to this.' I don't know how it happened, if he wanted to be the team principal or not.
Guenther Steiner
Guenther Steiner
"But obviously, that is not where his strength is. He's very good at what he's doing, which is designing cars. I mean, obviously not the Aston Martin at the moment, but he will fix it. But, for him, going in there was like why the hell that… I think it was an alien thing or I need to be team principal, not knowing what the team principal actually is or what it means to be the team principal and that didn't last long.
"Again, it shows that you should always put the people where their strength is, never over-promote them."
Aston Martin entered the new era of regulations with a new engine partnership with Honda, but it has so far been met with a host of issues on its F1 car. As the Lawrence Stroll-owned team works through its issues, it currently sits 11th in the constructors' standings with zero points after the first four rounds of the season.
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