Has Newey Aston Martin team boss project failed? F1 Q&A

Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin in March last year, and has been acting as team principal since the position's former occupant Andy Cowell was moved into a different position [Getty Images] Mercedes will be looking to maintain their strong start to 2026 at the third round of the season in Japan this weekend. George Russell won in Melbourne and the Shanghai sprint, before 19-year-old team-mate Kimi Antonelli took his first grand prix victory in China. Following the Japanese Grand Prix, Formula 1 will have a five-week break because the conflict in the Middle East caused the cancellations of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions before Suzuka. Has the Adrian Newey team principal at Aston Martin project failed? Or was this always the plan?

- Jake It's easy to feel confused, or perhaps even a little dizzy, when contemplating the merry-go-round of changes in the senior team at Aston Martin in the past couple of years. Focusing on Newey, he joined Aston Martin in March last year as managing technical partner and shareholder. His position, and his reputation, were always going to mean that he was the de facto operations boss of the Aston Martin F1 team under owner Lawrence Stroll, regardless of his title.

At the same time, it's not a productive use of Newey's time or ability to tie him up with some of the operational and bureaucratic aspects of a role such as team principal or chief executive officer. Any team wants Newey focused where he can make the biggest difference - on car design - and not in places such as budgets, dealing with sponsors and media, personnel and so on. Initially, that was the responsibility of Andy Cowell, in his role as team principal and chief executive officer.