Jacques Villeneuve highlighted a harsh reality about Adrian Newey-designed Formula 1 cars: they are not easy to drive and require a genius driver to extract the maximum from them – something that may not be music to the ears of Lance Stroll.
Over the years, Newey’s cars have amassed 25 F1 World Championship titles, but not without some flops or notoriously difficult cars, such as that Williams FW16, Ayrton Senna’s last ride. Only Senna, regarded by many as the GOAT, could put the car on pole for his final three races. They promptly rolled out a 16B for Damon Hill and Senna’s replacement, Nigel Mansell.
This tends to be the story with Newey cars—drivers who can make the most of them thrive. In the ‘exhaust-blown diffuser’ F1 era (2010–2013), it was Sebastian Vettel who mastered the quirks of those cars, which led him to four successive F1 world titles.
The same seems true in the current ground-effect aero era, as Newey-designed cars have taken Max Verstappen to two F1 titles his maiden also in a Newey-car but from the previous era. A fourth title is possible this year. However, it’s clear that it takes a driver of Max’s calibre to achieve such success, while Sergio Perez has been trying to figure out how they work for the past four years.
Now Newey is off to Aston Martin for what is likely to be the rest of his career since he is on the board and a shareholder, with the 2026 F1 campaign the first thing on his agenda. The car Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will drive.
Villeneuve was 1997 F1 World Champion in the Newey-designed Williams FW19
Villeneuve, who won the 1997 F1 World Championship driving the Newey-designed Williams FW19, warns Aston Martin drivers: “From my experience, Adrian has always designed very precise cars to drive. They always had a narrow window of preparation but were super performers if you could hit that window.
“It’s not a car for everyone. He designs cars for exceptional drivers, and those drivers can make a huge difference. Average drivers, however, will struggle,” Villeneuve explained. This might explain why Mark Webber struggled to beat Vettel, and why Verstappen is on another level compared to Perez in the same Red Bull RB20.
Verstappen has won seven of the first ten races this season with that car, but its performance has fluctuated, almost like an On-Off switch at the top of the pecking order. How has the decline been so rapid?
Villeneuve suggests that Newey’s departure from Red Bull will be felt by Verstappen: “Newey not being around is really detrimental. It’s easy to fall out of that window I was talking about and never be able to get back in. It’s a fine line.
“Once Newey left Williams in 1997, halfway through the season, the team struggled. They got completely lost, and it took a while to get back in that window. That could well be what has happened at Red Bull.”
Perez, Albon, Gasly, and Kvyat never got a handle on Newey’s Red Bulls
As for Verstappen’s beleaguered teammate Perez, clearly never comfortable in a Newey RBR, Villeneuve did not mince his words: “Monza was difficult. When you run low downforce, problems get bigger. It’s a low-downforce track, and as soon as you add a bit more wing at other tracks, Perez will keep having issues. But Max will be able to drive around them.
“When Perez went to Red Bull, I was happy. He was pulling his weight. But now he’s gone off the boil. Once it gets in your head, you can lose two or three-tenths of a second. Perez doesn’t have any excuses. Max manages to drive the car,” Villeneuve pointed out.
This brings us to Newey and the design of the 2026 Aston Martin F1 car. Be sure Alonso will be well motivated to tame the ‘beast’ and is a driver up there with the greats who have excelled in Adrian’s creations no matter how hard they were to drive.
If anyone will maximise the Newey-penned Aston Martin Alonso can and will. But young Stroll in the sister car is more likely to go the route of Perez’s struggles as well as those who failed to get a handle on Adrian’s cars before Checo, including Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.
