Why we are still waiting for the ‘Newey effect’ – F1 Q&AImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Aston Martin, through Fernando Alonso, progressed from the first part of qualifying for the first time this season at the Hungarian Grand PrixPublished41 minutes agoFormula 1 is now on it summer break before the season resumes with the Dutch Grand Prix, from 21-23 August.However, BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson is still here to answer your newest questions.The new Aston Martin package has undoubtedly been a success, but they are still well below expectations. Should we have already seen the ‘Newey effect’, and if so, why has the designer who is repeatedly described as ‘the best’ not had the expected impact? – BenjaminThere are logical reasons why the Aston Martin-Honda package – so strong on paper – has not yet come together.In short, the new 2026 aerodynamic regulations were published on 2 January 2025. But Adrian Newey did not start officially at Aston Martin in his new role as managing technical partner until 2 March.When he arrived, he asked the team to stop what they had already worked on and switch to his design outline. That put them two months behind already.Then, the wind tunnel was not ready to receive any modelling until mid-April, so now they were nearly four months behind the others.On top of that, the team only realised in November last year that Honda was a long way behind on its engine design.The cumulative effect of all this was seen at the start of the year, when it became obvious the car and the engine were both uncompetitive and unreliable.In the intervening period, Aston Martin, as Newey put it, “overhauled how we work”, improved organisation, put in place different systems, and rethought the car.The result was the car that made its debut in Hungary, which was significantly lighter and had much improved downforce. It cut lap times by about two seconds, it seems.The first upgrade of the Honda engine comes at the next race, the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break, which is expected to reduce some – but by no means all, or even the majority – of the gap to the leading engines.All of that means it will be 2027 before the first full-fat Newey-led design appears. And its competitiveness will also depend on how Honda gets on with its 2027 engine.With the sudden arrival of Malaysia on the calendar, how do the drivers, especially those who haven’t raced there, prepare for the race? – JacobThe Malaysian Grand Prix was always renowned as one of the toughest on the calendar, because of the demands placed on the body by the tropical conditions.But the same goes for Singapore, which was already on the calendar and which is just a week after Malaysia on the newest schedule.
So the drivers will not need to do anything different in their preparations than they would already be doing for Singapore – they often say that the training they do all year is focused on being able to cope with the humidity and heat there.
One problem the introduction of Malaysia does pose, however, is time zones.
For Singapore, the drivers and teams essentially stay on European time, because of the night-race schedule. So, getting up around lunchtime, going to bed around 3-5am.
But Malaysia is a daytime race, so they will have to switch to local time for that one, having been in Azerbaijan the previous weekend, and then migrate back towards European time for Singapore.
However, these are world-class athletes who are used to this sort of thing, so they will be fine.
