Andy Cowell has taken over the team principal role
The Aston Martin Formula 1 operation has announced a major restructure that sees CEO Andy Cowell assume the role of team principal as previous incumbent Mike Krack moves into a new role.
The changes reflect the ongoing efforts by owner Lawrence Stroll to find the ideal organisation after a string of high-profile hirings ahead of the arrival of Adrian Newey.
Last year the team finished a distant fifth in the World Championship and it was evident that Stroll would make changes over the winter.
The team has split its trackside and factory operations “for clarity of leadership and as part of a shift to a flatter structure” with their respective bosses reporting to Cowell.
Krack has now been given the title of chief trackside officer, while the incoming Enrico Cardile will be chief technical officer.
Meanwhile performance director Tom McCullough has been moved into an unspecified job where he will “play a critical role in the expansion of the team’s broader range of racing categories.”
He follows Andy Green and Dan Fallows as the latest key player to be moved out of the F1 programme.
Former HPP boss Cowell was announced as the future CEO in July, and officially started the job on October 1.
He was ostensibly hired to replace then CEO erstwhile Martin Whitmarsh, who played a key role behind the scenes as the Silverstone operation was expanded.
However, Whitmarsh never had the team principal title, and he kept a low profile at the track and with the media.
“I have spent the last three months understanding and assessing our performance,” said Cowell. “And I’ve been incredibly impressed by the dedication, commitment and hard work of this team.
“With the completion of the AMR Technology Campus and our transition in 2026 to a full works team, alongside our strategic partners Honda and Aramco, we are on a journey to becoming a championship-winning team. These organisational changes are a natural evolution of the multi-year plans that we have scheduled to make and I’m incredibly excited about the future.”
Aston already has a lot of technical heavyweights – but Newey will be in charge
Aston Martin Formula 1 boss Mike Krack says that the team has “plenty of time” to adjust to the arrival of Adrian Newey and properly define what his role is.
Newey will start work on March 1 and owner Lawrence Stroll has made it clear that he will be the head of a technical structure that already features a lot of leading names, with others still coming, notably former Ferrari technical chief Enrique Cardile.
McLaren faced an awkward situation early this year when new recruit David Sanchez didn’t fit a revised technical structure and left not long after his arrival.
Krack is confident that Aston will be able to accommodate everyone in the right jobs.
“I think we will have plenty of time with him joining in March,” he said. “We will have a close look at it. Any team that can have someone like that will have to discuss its structure and how to adjust it, to make the best use of it.
“This is what we’re going to do. We’re not in a rush. We have plenty of time. We have some plans that we will need to discuss with him, but I think we will find a good solution.”
Asked by this writer if it might be difficult given the number of top technical people the team has he said: “I think at the end of the day, you have to look at which areas you want to cover, how much overlap do you want to have in a structure, and who is accountable for what? And that is an exercise that we have to go through.
“But you have to do that each time in each department with each new recruit, you need to define what are the roles and the responsibilities and what is this new employee accountable for?
“It’s the same with the senior leadership, the technical leadership. I think if you cover all the areas and you allocate them properly, there will be no such problems.”
He added: “The most important thing in F1 is to be flexible and open for change. If you’re stuck in the past, then you’ve seen some, some examples of the grid, how it can go.
“So I think you need to be open. You need to be dynamic at all times. And that is how we are approaching it.
Krack believes that Newey’s approach will be inspiring for the younger engineers in the Aston camp.
“The thinking differently, that is something that I think could add an extra, but then also the inspiration,” he said.
“I think a lot of engineers will be inspired by the approach, by the way of doing, because it’s a different approach.
“And I think with all the young engineers we are having, plus also the medium level, I think they will all benefit greatly from that, because you just see that things can be done differently, or that you just follow different ideas. I think it will be inspiring for all of us.”
Krack said that Newey’s arrival will make Aston appealing to everyone, including drivers.
“I think it would make a difference for everybody, starting with the staff. I think when you manage to appoint Adrian Newey, I think it’s, first of all, it’s a proof that the project is credible, that the whole vision of Lawrence is not only words, but it’s really action that we can take confidence of as a team.
“This is not anymore underdogs like it used to be in the past. It’s a team that should be confident that it can do it, but then also you have a completely different approach with partners, and same for race drivers. So I think it opens a lot of doors for the future.”
Asked if the door was now open to Max Verstappen he said: “The door for Max Verstappen is always open I think, for every team.”
Newey’s arrival will have an impact on the cost cap. He will now become of the top three highest paid team members whose salaries are outside the cap, and he will thus push someone else into the cap zone – thus absorbing several hundred thousand pounds that now can’t be spent elsewhere.
“It’s a challenge for everybody,” said Krack. “Not only for us, but it’s the same challenge for every team.
“You have a cost cap. In the cost cap, there is the all the relevant personnel that you have to incorporate, you have a top three exclusion, and you have to incorporate your development budget, and a lot of other things as they are described in the financial regulations.
“I think most important thing in these kinds of cases is proper planning and proper anticipation.
“What is going to happen, where are our expenses, and what is our development plan, and then you need contingencies for accidents, for crashes and stuff like that.
“Our finance team is very strong in planning this properly ahead in terms of cost monitoring. So I think, to be honest, I have full confidence that there will be no issue.”
Aston Martin Formula 1 owner says that Adrian Newey is “a winner” and is the key piece of the puzzle in improving the team’s fortunes.
Stroll said he first approached Newey two years ago, and his interest ramped up as soon as it became public that he was on the market.
Newey will start work at the team on March 1 after completing his Red Bull gardening leave.
“Adrian arguably is the greatest in the world at what he does,” said Stroll. “There’s nobody who’s come close to winning as many World Championships.
“He’s a gentleman, he’s a winner, he’s a competitor, and he has the passion and desire to win, as do I, and most of the people in this building.
“We started on a journey six years ago with this team, on similar ground, much smaller premises, a much smaller building, and that’s really when the journey had started.
“We’ve put together a fantastic management team. And building this premises was really showing our real intent. First was hiring the people, but to make this level of investment, to build a premises like this, that was non-existent before, in F1, the first of its sort. It’s so grand, but it’s so special, we can build 100% of the car here.
“We’re going to have the first, greatest, newest wind tunnel built in over 20 years. That’s a huge tool to make the car go faster, ultimately. So putting all that in place, the people, the premises, and then really looking for our technical leader.
“And I had been trying to speak to Adrian for a couple of years. And I believe when things are meant to be, they happen.
“I believe he shared my passion, intent and vision. And there really is no other F1 team that is poised for the future as we are. So I can’t be more excited to have Adrian on board.”
Expanding on Newey’s role he said: “As I mentioned, we have a strong team, some of which Adrian has already worked with.
“Adrian is going to be the managing technical partner of that team, so on a day-to-day basis, he’ll be here, full commitment, full time committed to F1, giving leadership and direction to his team.”
He added: “Adrian is key, key, key, and the biggest part of the puzzle, certainly from a technical point of view, from a technical leadership point of view. He will be leading the team, and I think that will have a trickle-down effect throughout the whole organisation.”
Stroll made it clear that the focus will be in 2026, with Newey joining in time to make a difference heading into the new rules set.
“We had a slight distraction moving into this building,” he said. “We had a very strong start to 2023 as you know, the first nine races were great. These ground effect cars are rather complex, and obviously we went in the different or clearly appears now a wrong direction. We’re trying to find our way back.
“We’re currently fifth in the championship, in all honesty, for a team like us, with just moving into this building, with not having all our tools in place, without having a true, big technical leader as Adrian – I would like to be in a better space, don’t get me wrong, but our focus really lies on doing a better car for ’25 but really, most importantly, we’ll be focusing most of our energy next year on ’26.
“Re-set, new rules, new power. unit building is up and running, wind tunnel is running. So that’s really going to be our focus.”
Adam Cooper F1 