Aston Martin’s Andy Cowell has offered an insight into the team’s direction ahead of their home race at the 2025 British Grand Prix, with upgrade trials for Fernando Alonso and the team’s long-term commitment to 2026.
New floor and bodywork on trial for Alonso
Speaking in Friday’s pre-race Team Principal Press Conference, Cowell confirmed that Fernando Alonso ran a new update package during Free Practice 1 at Silverstone, which included a new floor and modified top bodywork.
“New floor, modified top bodywork to go with the floor, running just a series of tests through FP1,” Cowell explained. “We’ll add the floor to Lance’s car now for FP2, so he gets a comparison between old floor and new floor, crunch through all the data and go from there. Just testing through FP1, doing some runs that perhaps you wouldn’t normally do, and we’ll work out what to do going forward.”
2026 focus clear as wind tunnel work shifts
Cowell also confirmed that Aston Martin has largely switched its resources to the 2026 project, revealing that the 2025 car is no longer in the wind tunnel. “99% is on 2026. I’ve got an open mind to the fact that what we learn here this weekend might mean that we drop the ‘25 car back in the wind tunnel just to close the loop,” he said.
“We’re not saying absolutely no ‘25 model running, because now we’ve got our own tunnel we can test seven days a week, any hour of those seven days, and it’s easy just to slot the model back in and learn a little bit more, so long as it helps us with the learning in readiness for ’26 and ’27.”
Making it clear that the team’s position in the championship would not alter the strategy, Cowell added, “The key thing we’re focusing on is our medium-long term and 2026 is a key step for us as we go from a customer team to a works team.”
Facilities speeding up 2026 push
Cowell also highlighted how Aston Martin’s new Silverstone headquarters, just across the road from the British Grand Prix, has accelerated development under new technical chief Adrian Newey.
“The new facilities just help us have everything at our fingertips. Having the aerodynamicists a short stroll away from the model build area and the wind tunnel section just helps speed everything up,” Cowell said.
““At the start of this week, we had both Fernando and Lance in the wind tunnel section with the model and Adrian. Adrian was talking about the features on the model. Adrian pushes the boundaries. He packages ten things into the space where only one would normally fit, and all the engineers see that as a challenge,” he explained.
“The pace with which we’re creating changes on the ’26 wind tunnel model is quicker than we’ve ever done before. It is like watching 100 people all run 100 metres sub-ten seconds, with perfect baton passes. It’s very exciting to see and all of that is enabled by having the facilities, and the people and the methods. So yeah, it’s an exciting journey into ’26.”
Russell links dismissed as driver line-up confirmed
When asked by Motorsport.com about speculation linking George Russell to Aston Martin in future seasons, Cowell stressed the team’s current driver plans were locked in, “We’re super fortunate. We’ve got this exciting run into ’26. But the stability that we’ve got in having Lance and Fernando signed up for next year means that they’re not only helping us now develop the tools that we’re using for ’26, ’27 and beyond, but they’re working directly on the concept of the car,” Cowell explained.
Drugovich’s Formula E adventure
Cowell also had praise for “exceptionally strong” reserve driver Felipe Drugovich ahead of his Formula E debut with Mahindra next week, backing him to impress.
Cowell said, “We’re lucky to have him as our reserve driver. He helps out in the simulator, doing work for ’26, and I’m sure he’ll do very well in all the other racing categories that he’s performing in.”
