The innovations behind Aston Martin's new wind tunnel and how Newey could help
Adrian Newey assigned to drafting 2026 Aston Martin concepts, but could be involved with this year's F1 car as new wind tunnel opens for service
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Aston Martin starts using new wind tunnel
Photo by: Aston Martin
Aston Martin's all-new Formula 1 wind tunnel has now been fired up for the team's development work for the 2025 and 2026 seasons - and team principal Andy Cowell hasn't ruled out Adrian Newey getting involved in its current-season development.
The new wind tunnel has had a lengthy gestation period, with commissioning work taking place in the second half of 2024 before the tunnel could start to be calibrated and then used to underpin the team's simulation work.
Aston Martin has spent the last decade and a half using Mercedes' wind tunnel facilities in Brackley; although the team had its own tunnel at the other end of the Northamptonshire town, this was a throwback to its days as Jordan and scarcely used for anything other than office space.
Team principal Andy Cowell joked that the aerodynamicists no longer had to "put a coat on" to begin work at the new wind tunnel, and that it features a wealth of technology that he believes enhances the team's understanding of flow conditions versus what it was used to with the Mercedes wind tunnel.
"It's been a big project with lots of people working on it, so it's great to see it's now our nominated wind tunnel and doing development work," Cowell said.
"It's got some great technology in the in the measurement systems and within the model that goes within the tunnel - and just having everything together in one location, the aerodynamicists don't even need to put a coat on to go to the wind tunnel, they just walk through!
"Before, it was loading the model into a van and down a bumpy dual carriageway and hoping it was still in the same condition when you took it out of the van at the other end.
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Photo by: Aston Martin
"From efficiency but also the challenge that everybody has of trying to understand what goes on with the aerodynamics on track compared with the wind tunnel compared with CFD, those three worlds that the aerodynamicists battle with.
"We believe that this new wind tunnel gives us greater understanding, greater mechanisms for understanding the flow physics of the streams going over the car."
The building in which Aston Martin's wind tunnel sits also contains additive manufacturing machinery (i.e. 3D printing tools) and the model building area to keep everything in one place.
Although much of the team's attention will be on 2026, Cowell explained that the team still had a desire to develop its 2025 machinery - thus diverting some of the wind tunnel time away from next year's all-new aerodynamic regulations.
He did not rule out big-name signing Adrian Newey chipping in with any pearls of wisdom for its 2025 development, should he have time to look outside of his 2026 obligations.
"We all want to develop our cars, and there's the new regulation set for next year with different aerodynamics, different powertrains, different fuels," Cowell added.
"How do you balance that up in a world where there's a cost cap and there's aero restrictions in CFD and in the wind tunnel? We've all got to take our judgements and work out what to do.
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Photo by: Aston Martin
"Adrian joining brings a huge amount of experience and a great competitive mindset, and the choice that we've made at the moment is that Adrian's working on the 2026 car, he's putting a lot of effort into that and understanding that.
"Maybe when we've learned where our car is, its strengths, its weaknesses, in the opening few races, he'll help come up with the odd development tweak for the 2025 car.
"We've got a new wind tunnel, we've got lots of other equipment within the factory, and we're trying to develop and build those tools so that they all fit together and build the team spirit, so that we're focused on creating the fastest race car we possibly can."
