Pedro de la Rosa already warned Mundo Deportivo weeks ago. Aston Martin ambassador said that beyond the obvious, that Adrian Newy He is the best cars designer in history, and how important his vision and architecture of the car is when designing the car of the new regulations of 2026, there was a key point that many overlook: “Beyond what people are so impressed in the team, it is that Adrian Newey is achieved is to inspire and attract talent to the factory of Aston Martin.”
Adrian attracts talent from other sets, young talent, and on this occasion, a proven name that was already one of the pillars next to Newey from the beginning of the time of success of Red Bull with Vettel. According to the prestigious 'The Race' portal, Fernando Alonso, Lawrence Stroll And company, they have good news: Adrian Newey has achieved signing De Giles Wood to Aston Martin.
Giles Wood, after starting his career in the McLaren Simulation Department (2004-2006), It was one of Newey's right -handed hands in Red Bull as director of the Simulation and Analysis Department of the Energy Drinks from 2010 to 2013 For the Milton Keynes team to become a champion team that achieved four consecutive titles with Vettel at the wheel.
That was the beginning of the success of a set that began its journey 5 years earlier, a case similar to what you are looking for Aston Martin in its growth process in all aspects.
Wood changed jobs in 2014, occupying a position in Red Bull Advanced Technologiesand then decided to leave the F1 to leave for another very different sector, in one of the most worldwide companies: Apple. Now, Newey He has achieved that Giles Wood He returns to the F1 with Aston Martin to accompany him in one of his biggest challenges: turn Aston Martin into a champion team, starting to take advantage of the new regulations of 2026, which can completely change the order of the grill.
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“Giles left F1 for a while, worked in California and now occupies our world of modeling and simulation,” said Andy Cowell, main team by Aston Martin, in 'The Race'. “When you see the interaction of these two men with Adrian and the existing team, energy and determination is significantly greater. It is incredible how the key hiring such as Adrian's, but also that of other people, help everything. It helps lift everyone. I am not so sure that it is the work rate, but the setting of objectives,” he said.
Adrian Newey, in his new office in Aston Martin before his new drawing table in which he will create the 2026 F1 car
Newey, to fix one of the key problems of the team
Andy Cowell He already said in a recent interview with Mundo Deportivo that one of the current tasks of Adrian It is analyzing every detail of Aston Martin's processes and work structure to find weaknesses and improve them. Everything, with the objective that the process of creating pieces, from the design of Newey And his idea, through the simulator and the wind tunnel and until he reaches the track, be it as efficient and perfect as possible. Adrian must ensure that everything he thinks is executed as he wants and with the best subsequent performance on the track.
In that sense, Adrian Newey himself has already recognized in the past Monaco GP that it is true that “Aston Martin probably has the best F1 factory” After the creation of its new and imposing headquarters, equipped with the best technology. But that in turn had a weakness: the new simulator. The hardware is very good, but the software should be improved because its runway correlation is not good. And it has not taken a record about it, calling his former lieutenant in Red Bull, Giles Wood, to return to the ring to solve this problem as soon as possible.
Adrian Newey, at the Monaco GP of F1 2025 with Aston Martin, wearing the colors of the team for the first time in a GP
Giles Wood will occupy the important position of director of Simulation and Modeling of Vehicles, and, always according to 'The Race', will carry out a key work in the development of improvements in an area such as simulation, which Newey already pointed out that it was what was most worried at this time, because it could mean a weak point compared to the rest of the rivals. Newey, in turn, said that this problem could take to fix about two years. In the team, they pointed to a few months. And when MD spoke with several people close to Aston Martin's simulator, they all agreed that they were “calm” about it because the important thing is that the structure of the simulator was very good, in the absence of that perfect operating system.
Newey and the team itself distilled that this weakness in the simulator could be supplied with work and talent. And the objective was to shorten the deadlines to improve that area. And Newey has not taken anything to make a crucial movement about it, signing a key person like Wood.
This hiring is another example in the important recruitment campaign that Aston Martin has made in recent years and continues to do at the moment, attracting talent of the best teams. In this case, in recent months the team has focused on strengthening the departments that believed the most they should improve with respect to their rivals. And this is how they achieved the important signing of Gioacchino 'Jack' came as the new chief of aerodynamics, joining the team last April after a race in which Toyota, Red Bull, Renault and Mercedes passed through Toyota, a team that reached in 2012 and in which he became chief of aerodynamics.
