Christian Horner can still join Aston Martin. Although Adrian Newey has taken on the role of team principal, there seems to be no final say on how the key roles will be shared within the organization.
On Wednesday, Aston Martin announced that further adjustments would be made to its internal structure. As previously reported, Andy Cowell is stepping back and Newey will take over his role as team principal in 2026. The CEO role that Cowell also possessed will be dropped for now.
Cowell will remain with Aston Martin as the team's Chief Strategy Officer, similar to the step his predecessor Mike Krack took earlier. The Luxembourger became the team's Chief Trackside Officer after leaving the team principal role.
It appears that both will likely be the ones addressing the media. Normally, the team principal represents the team in media sessions, but with Newey at the helm from 2026, Aston Martin wants to spread that responsibility across multiple people.
Aston Martin would not be the only team that does this. McLaren also splits the traditional team principal role between CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella. The team principal does talk to the media frequently, but if engineering takes priority and Brown is present, the American is the one addressing the press.
Is Newey suited to be Aston Martin’s team principal?
Still, it raises questions about the exact scope of Newey’s role as team principal. Will the man who built so many championship-winning cars truly play to his strengths as a team principal? Will he remain responsible for the car technically, or will that baton be partially passed to Enrico Cardile? These are all questions Aston Martin cannot yet answer.
Perhaps the most important question is: does this role suit Newey? The obsessive designer is not known for being a manager. He’s a creative, an idiosyncratic figure who can design the most fascinating things, but is he a leader? Newey flourished under Horner precisely because he was given free rein while Horner organized everything around him. Could Newey do that himself now and still retain his creativity?
In every respect, it seems to be a short-term decision made out of panic. Newey and Cowell could no longer see eye to eye, resulting in Newey taking full control while Cowell focuses solely on the power unit. It’s a decision they made now, but will only partially be implemented for the time being.
Newey is in Qatar, but only to analyze the race team. This visit was planned earlier, as were his appearances in Monaco and Silverstone.
According to the British team, Cowell remains the team principal, albeit an absent one. Cowell will not be present at the circuit in Qatar or Abu Dhabi. Mike Krack, Cowell’s predecessor, has therefore been appointed as Aston Martin’s representative in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
If Newey is a temporary solution, the future man seems to be Christian Horner. The former CEO and team principal of Red Bull Racing is said to have been given a tour of Aston Martin’s factory by Newey, which was denied by the team. The two have repaired their relationship, but Horner has not yet made the move.
Aston Martin leaves the CEO position open
First of all, that’s because Horner is still on gardening leave. Horner cannot start work before April 2026. It’s also not 100% certain that Horner would want to join Aston Martin, where he would work under Lawrence Stroll, who is known for micromanaging. For someone who would want more say within a team, that doesn’t seem the best fit.
Still, Horner’s arrival is not off the table. The Briton is not coming now, as Lawrence Stroll told the Aston Martin staff. But what happens when his gardening leave is over? Aston Martin has not filled the CEO position under the new structure, which leaves the door open for the arrival of a senior leader.
That gap could still be filled by Horner. Given the rapid-fire changes already made, it’s hard to say whether this is truly Aston Martin's structure for the years ahead.
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