Aston Martin CEO Andy Cowell has downplayed suggestions his team’s new Driver-in-the-Loop simulator has a flaw which will take years to correct.
Adrian Newey, the team’s managing technical partner, told the official F1 channel the team’s simulator was “weak” and getting its facilities up to scratch was “probably a two-year project.” He said the problem lies in correlating the simulator data with what the team sees in the real world.However Cowell stressed it is not unusual for teams to encounter such correlation problems.
“Whenever you create new equipment it takes a while to commission it and then work out how well correlated either the [driver-in-the-loop simulator] or the wind tunnel is with the real world here,” he told Sky. “So you need to do some updates, you need to bring it to the track, you need to see how everything matches up.
“That’s correlation and even experienced teams have problems with correlation. You hear it up and down the pit lane.
“The great thing with Adrian is he’s coming in and saying what is great, he’s setting the level that is really good and so we’ve got to lift up to that. And it’s work that we were already working on, but Adrian just helps refine the jobs list.”
Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll has invested heavily in expanding and upgrading the team’s facilities including the factory, wind tunnel, simulator and other car development hardware. Cowell said it will go through a continuous programme of upgrades.
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“Adrian spent the last two months with us just focusing on the architecture for the ’26 car,” he said. “And I can’t think of anybody better in the industry for reading a set of rules, looking at the high level and positioning all the key parts in the right location. So we’re very fortunate with that.
“We also know that we need to have all the simulation tools to help refine that and help set that overall goal. But it will be ongoing work. I don’t think we’ll ever say that our toolset is perfect. There’ll always be areas that we need to work on.
“So Adrian said it’ll take a couple of years, I think it’s just going to be ongoing work for us, constantly chasing and improving every single toolset that we’ve got.”
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wsrgo (@wsrgo)
24th May 2025, 13:56
Newey will not take kindly to that…he will likely leave the sinking ship sooner than we expect.
Alan Dove
24th May 2025, 14:24
Newey is a shareholder.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th May 2025, 21:08
Yeah, If anything, I would expect Newey to look at what is done with his recommendation and how the process goes. If he is not satisfied, well that means he talks with Stroll Sr. about what to change at the management level to make things work to the level he knows is possible.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
25th May 2025, 10:45
I didnt get that either from what Newey has been saying or what Cowell said on an interview with Sky. Not one bit. I did get hes realistic and has focussed on the area that is most problematic in his own quietly decisive way. Newey isnt jumping anywhere
floodo1 (@floodo1)
24th May 2025, 14:38
much ado about nothing
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
25th May 2025, 4:56
Newey is too old to give a bleep about lying. Thats probably why hes not at Ferrari.
Wer
24th May 2025, 19:08
If the simulator is indeed a significant shortcoming then I’m really sad, because Fernando doesn’t have those 2 years left to wait for an improvement.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
25th May 2025, 4:58
Its probably more about the team’s simulation tools as a whole, and how they can help optimize their setup over the weekend or be more forward facing/accurate.
An Sionnach
25th May 2025, 2:40
This makes sense. Was this something the team was aware of? I don’t think Adrian can develop a top car if too many of the rest of the team aren’t up to the job.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
25th May 2025, 10:47
Corelation is a big issue for all teams. Its probably more that each team is working with a certain amount of error margin between Sim and track. You want the best designer working with what ever the error margin is, Newey is that.