Look at Loic Serra, hes on gardaining leave,moving from mercedes to take cardilles job at ferrari. And hes been working with ferrari For the last couple of months. Not saying that newey is doing the same with aston, but it obviously happens. And serra is doing it without much worry of getting into any trouble from what has been posted in the media. Im sure newey would be doing it more privately of course.
The point is, we dont know how much, or little it takes to get the car more competitive. It could just take a few changes that the team are missing to put aston on the heels of the top 4. 25 aint gonna be a championship year, but it would be nice to fight for a podium or 2 haha