"We were relying on tools and processes that had been patched and bodged for years – you could trace some of them right back to the very early days of the Jordan team that was based here in Silverstone, long before Aston Martin returned to the grid," said Newey.
Although Lawrence Stroll has heavily invested in building a brand-new high-tech campus at Silverstone, the transition away from these obsolete systems caused manufacturing complications.
"At some point, a system that's just patch‑on‑patch stops being fit for purpose. That's where we had got to," said Newey.
The delayed timeline for the current regulations further compounded these issues, as serious development on the car did not start until mid-March 2025, leaving the chassis significantly overweight.
"The result was a very frustrating car build.
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Parts weren't being ordered at the right time – not because people weren't doing their jobs, but because the underlying system was failing them," said Newey.
Newey acknowledged that the compressed development schedule directly impacted the vehicle's aerodynamic layout and overall optimization.
"On the chassis side, we're quite a long way overweight," said Newey.
The team boss noted that while integrating the Honda power unit created vibration difficulties, the engineering department also failed to meet its internal weight-reduction targets.
"Some of that comes from integrating the power unit and dealing with vibration issues we've had to work through with Honda, but we also didn't do as good a job as we should have on our side at saving weight," said Newey.
