Aston Martin’s weak 2026 season raised doubts about Adrian Newey’s work, according to Johnny Herbert. The former Formula 1 driver and ex-FIA steward questioned whether the renowned designer might be entering a decline phase in his career, following the much below-expected performance of the AMR26.
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The British team arrived in 2026 surrounded by expectations, with a top-level structure, new resources, and key names on the project, but has scored only one point so far and faced several reliability issues. However, the major upgrade introduced at the Hungarian GP allowed Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to fight for positions in the midfield pack.
Herbert highlighted precisely the difference between the investment made by Aston Martin and the results obtained so far: “You look at what they put together at Aston Martin with Adrian Newey, the new factory and all that, plus having Fernando on board at the same time, and it’s hard to understand how everything went so wrong,” the former driver told a betting site.
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For Herbert, the difficulties may also call into question Newey’s ability to drive the expected transformation in the team. The Briton pointed out that even among the biggest names in the sport, eventually there comes a time when dominance ends.
“For some reason, Adrian hasn’t been able to put together a team capable of producing a good car, or even one that is competitive for what they are trying to achieve,” Herbert assessed. He then directly raised the possibility that the current phase represents the beginning of a decline for the designer: “Is this the end of Adrian Newey, the first sign of a downward spiral? This happens in sport even with the best. It would always happen, if not now, there will be a moment when it happens,” the former driver concluded.
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