Former F1 presenter identifies Aston Martin "red flag"…

Will Buxton has pointed to a major "red flag" at Aston Martin after Adrian Newey admitted that the team may not have spent enough time consulting its drivers during the car's development phase.

Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Buxton, former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard and Sky Sports pundit Naomi Schiff discussed the Silverstone outfit's disastrous start to the season, which has left Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll grappling with a vastly uncompetitive package.

"I think there's a concern on multiple levels at Aston," Buxton explained. "I don't know how much of this stems from Adrian ultimately being team principal and in a role that he's not used to, because he's so used to siloing himself and focusing on the design.

"Obviously, that's something that he still has to do while also having this responsibility as team principal to oversee everything. I don't know him well enough to know if he feels that burden and if the team principal role is taking him away from the design element, or if having to focus on the design element is actually taking him away from the team principal role. But something there isn't meshing right now.

"When the team have to admit, and Adrian has to admit, 'Actually, I didn't consult the drivers as much as I should have done,' that feels like a bit of a red flag."

While Coulthard was jokingly sceptical about how much technical direction drivers can actually provide, he argued that Newey's current workload is a concern.

Adrian Newey, Team Principal of Aston Martin F1 Team (Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images)

Newey joined Aston Martin as managing technical partner and shareholder in 2025. It was later confirmed that he would take the position of team principal in 2026 alongside his other duties.

"I'm not sure that drivers can really input very much on the design of the front wing. They can say, 'I want a car with lots of grip, lots of power,'" Coulthard said.

"I do find it unusual to be team principal and leading the technical charge, and a partner. We only have so many hours in the day. It doesn't matter how bright you are, and allocation of time... you simply can't give the same amount of energy to two things. Well, he could if it's 50/50, but he's going to have a lot more than that. He's just going to be diluting his brainpower."