hollus wrote: ↑18 Feb 2026, 13:36
Jambier wrote: ↑18 Feb 2026, 12:09
I believe they should prepare themselves to use the first 5 races to be just testing, setup and so on.
I think the team was fully there by the tome they showed up in Barcelona. If not, they must have realized it by now.
It seems to be the fans (this one included) that will need to accept it.
With a Newey car starting design late and new engine and new rules… it was maybe to be expected.
Not the first time a new Newey beast stutters off the start line. It often ends well?
Let's be honest—people who expected something different don't really understand how F1 actually works. An engineer can be as good as he wants, but whether it's Ross Brawn, Adrian Newey, Rory Byrne, Marshall, or James Allison—everyone depends on the organization and on a team, the methodologies, technology, etc. that are available, and how good they are and how well they work. Anyone who thinks you can just put Adrian Newey at Aston Martin and suddenly they'll be beating the whole of F1 doesn't understand what it's all about and how F1 works. It took Newey over three years to get Red Bull up to speed; until then, his cars were lagging behind. Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne also needed several years at Ferrari, even though they were already competing for titles in their second year. Some people may still think of Newey at McLaren, who competed for the title and won in 1998, his first year with the team. But they forget that McLaren was already on the rise before Newey arrived and many of the concepts for the 1998 car were already well developed when he joined. (McLaren had already tested cars with a longer wheelbase of over 3000 cm in 1995, 1996 and 1997, so I honestly think it's a myth that Newey was really responsible for the long wheelbase on the MP4-13; at the very least, it would be a strange coincidence...). They were already at the top level, and Newey's input was an added bonus. Aston Martin is far from the top level, even if it has the most modern infrastructure. You also have to be able to use it efficiently and have the right organization, technical level, and know-how. AM is a long way from that, and even Adrian Newey will need time here, even if the circumstances and the latest technology will speed things up, as will other top engineers such as Cardille and Fainello. But even Brawn, Byrne, Newey, Marshall, Allison, and Costa can't just snap their fingers and suddenly be number one. And I personally think it's positive that the new generation of F1 fans are also being shown that F1 doesn't work like that and that the media-created legend of the godlike engineer who comes along and, no matter where he is, conjures up the most ingenious and fastest cars out of thin air, and where every invention comes from their ingenious pen, is once again being demonstrated for what it is – namely false. Because as important as people like Newey are, because they understand the car as a whole and how everything has to work together (while younger engineers are more specialized and lack that level of knowledge) they are not magicians who build and design every screw, every aerodynamic surface, and every wishbone themselves. It is a team of thousands of people who do this. Engineers like Newey use their knowledge to ensure that everything runs in the right direction and everything harmonizes. And ultimately, that is the skill of these people, not the design and construction of individual parts. Rather, it is providing the technology, infrastructure, methodologies and organization that makes it possible to build and develop an F1 car better (which includes the "harmony" of the car working as a "whole") and faster than the competition.
To be fair to Stroll, does not look like a driver's issue
