Aston Martin is set to welcome Jonathan Wheatley as team principal, with the news that Adrian Newey is to step down from the role.
Autosport reported earlier on Thursday that the British technical guru, who had stepped in to replace Andy Cowell only at the start of the season, would be handing over the reins to return to his original designation within the Silverstone-based outfit.
It means that Aston Martin will have a fifth team principal since joining the F1 grid in 2021, so who were the first four?
Otmar Szafnauer – 2021
Otmar Szafnauer, former F1 team principal
Photo by: Andreas Beil
Otmar Szafnauer had led the team through multiple transitions – from its former Force India guise into the Racing Point era after Lawrence Stroll stepped in to save the beleaguered outfit.
When the Aston Martin moniker was introduced for 2021, Szafnauer remained in position, though his tenure would only last the one season in the British manufacturer’s trademark green colours.
Early in January 2022, it was announced that Szafnauer would depart, news that was far from unexpected after the hiring of former McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh four months prior as CEO.
The Romanian-American left after guiding the team to a seventh-place finish in the 2021 constructors’ standings, with Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll 12th and 13th in the drivers’ table.
Szafnauer ultimately moved to Alpine for a failed tenure.
Mike Krack – 2022-2024
Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer of the Aston Martin F1 Team
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images via Getty Images
Former BMW motorsport chief Mike Krack was the man chosen to replace Szafnauer ahead of the 2022 campaign.
The Luxembourger was recruited with heavy interest from Whitmarsh, who at the time said: “Mike Krack is exactly the right kind of dynamic and modern team principal.
“Having worked in very senior motorsport positions at both BMW and Porsche, backed by an engineering background in Formula 1 with Sauber, Mike possesses a blend of experience and expertise that makes him the ideal choice for us.”
Krack was part of a major recruitment drive as Stroll Sr began to build what he hoped – and still does – would become an F1 powerhouse, joining at roughly the same time as the new technical director Dan Fallows from Red Bull.
He led the team through further upscaling as a new state-of-the-art technical campus was created at its Silverstone base, with promise shown on-track in 2023 as Fernando Alonso in particular threatened to trouble the traditional top three teams.
A first win went begging at the Monaco Grand Prix but after that, regression set in, though it finished the 2024 campaign fifth in the constructors’ standings.
But after three years as team principal, Krack was moved aside, though he remains at the team as chief trackside officer.
Andy Cowell – 2025
Andy Cowell, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Former Mercedes power unit guru Cowell joined Aston five months before taking over from Krack in the team’s next managerial shake-up, alongside his original role of chief executive officer.
At the time Cowell described the changes as “a natural evolution of the multi-year plans that we have scheduled to make and I’m incredibly excited about the future”, though he ultimately remained in that position for just one season.
Aston revealed in November 2025 that Cowell would be moved aside and into a new role overseeing the new partnership with power unit manufacturer Honda, making way for Newey to become team principal for the first time in his career.
Under Cowell, the squad finished seventh in the constructors’ standings with a best result of fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix – the car struggling to be competitive with excessive drag.
Adrian Newey – 2026
Adrian Newey, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images
Newey’s stint as team principal may have been succinct, but in no way has it been uneventful.
Aston’s start to life under F1’s new regulatory era has been nightmarish – the Honda power unit yet unable to finish a grand prix distance.
Newey provided an extraordinary media briefing at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to reveal just how far behind the new partnership was, with a lack of spare batteries, vibrations that cause health concerns for the drivers and the fact that the team had only been made aware of the dispersal of staff from the Japanese manufacturer’s previous F1 stint with Red Bull in November.
A step back to a technical role will allow Newey to do what he is best at, though it means more upheaval for the squad as it fights to reach the top of the F1 mountain and fulfil the dreams of owner Stroll’s investment.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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