Aston Martin tipped for "surprise" 2026 F1 season with Adrian Newey's influence by former champion

1996 Formula 1 champion Damon Hill has backed Adrian Newey to "wave his magic wand over Aston Martin" as the "master of seeing through the regulations".

Newey left his role as chief technical officer at Red Bull in 2024 after almost two decades with the team, and joined Aston Martin as the managing technical partner in 2025. He will also serve as team principal of the Silverstone outfit in 2026.

The Briton has been behind some of the most successful cars in the championship, including Hill's championship-winning Williams in 1996 and the Red Bull RB19, which won all but one race in the 2023 season.

With a new wave of regulations coming into the series in 2026, Hill believes that Newey could influence a "surprise" season for Aston Martin.

"Yes, you could [see a changing of the guard in F1 this year]. I mean, we could see a complete surprise," Hill told TalkSPORT.

Hill worked with Newey during his time at Williams. Not only did Newey design Hill's winning car, but he also had a hands-on role with the former driver to support his race engineer, Tim Preston, who was new to the job.

Winner Damon Hill, Williams, Adrian Newey, Williams, second place Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, third place Mika Hakkinen, McLaren

Photo by: Motorsport Images

"Something like when Jenson Button won with Brawn, they surprised everyone because they saw through the regulations," he continued.

"And the master of seeing through the regulations is Adrian Newey, who's gone to Aston Martin. He left Red Bull and Max Verstappen behind, and Christian Horner has left that team anyway. But he's gone off to Aston Martin.

"He's been working on this project now for a good 18 months or so. So we're sort of expecting him to wave his magic wand over Aston Martin. It could happen."

Fans have a little longer to wait to see the highly anticipated livery for the 2026 Aston Martin, which will be unveiled at a launch event on 9 February.