Latest news with #AndyCowell
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Lance Stroll fights through wrist injury to race at home Grand Prix in Montreal
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, of Canada, takes part in a press conference at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov MONTREAL — Lance Stroll is gaining a reputation for fighting through pain. The lone Canadian driver in Formula One will race for Aston Martin at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, two weeks after missing the Spanish GP and undergoing surgery on his right wrist. Aston Martin said the issue dated back to 2023, when Stroll famously broke both his wrists in a bike accident but returned to the track ahead of schedule for the season-opening Bahrain GP. 'It gives me a lot of confidence that I've done it before, and I was in much worse shape,' he said. 'I had both wrists that were broken, one was not fixated. My toe was broken. I was in a lot more pain.' Citing medical privacy, the 26-year-old from Montreal wouldn't disclose much about his most recent injury during a defensive press conference Thursday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but later revealed some details to a small group of local reporters. 'This was much more simple just to get it sorted. It's not like a whole broken bone again,' he said with his right wrist wrapped in a bandage at the Aston Martin hospitality. 'It was just fixing what was already aggravating me.' Reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Stoffel Vandoorne were considered as possible fill-ins if Stroll wasn't fit, but Aston Martin chief executive officer and team principal Andy Cowell said the team never expected to use its Plan B. 'Plan A's been strong all the way through, and Lance is here,' he said. 'He was the most upset that he wasn't driving Sunday in Barcelona, and has been the most determined person in the whole team to make sure that he's here this weekend.' Stroll took part in practice sessions and qualifying in Barcelona before pulling out of the race late, leaving Aston Martin without a second driver. If the operation was only a simple procedure, why didn't he do it sooner? Stroll explained that his wrist began acting up at the beginning of last month's European triple-header — the Emilia Romagna GP, Monaco GP and the Spanish GP — and he tried to power through without having to miss a race. The Canadian had already planned to have the procedure following the Barcelona race, he added. 'It tends to be a thing with these screws and stuff,' he said. 'You could go a couple years and it can be OK, and sometimes you just leave it in for life and sometimes it starts to bother you, and then it becomes — it starts to bother you very quickly. '(That's) what happened at the beginning of the weekend in Imola (Emilia Romagna), and then it was just pain tolerance, until, hopefully in my mind, the end of the triple header.' Stroll, who ranks 12th in the 20-driver grid through nine of 24 races, struggled to back-to-back 15th-place finishes in Imola and Monaco. Then his pain reached a tipping point in Spain. 'Got to the point in Barcelona where I was already struggling in (the second free practice), I had to get out of the car and miss 20 minutes at the end of FP2 to try and save energy for the race,' he said. 'Then I was just grinding through Saturday, and I was not at my peak form at all. 'Not a fun couple weeks, but feeling better now.' The BBC reported that Stroll lost his temper in the team's garage, damaging equipment and swearing at team members after being eliminated in the second qualifying session. The team has denied that the outburst caused his injury. 'I was frustrated, for sure,' Stroll acknowledged. 'Frustrated about my wrist and the last three races from Imola. It was just inhibiting my driving. So I knew that Sunday was going to be tricky, probably impossible. And at that point, I was pretty frustrated about it.' Cowell said he respected the fact that Stroll, as an ultracompetitive athlete, tried to drive through race weekend despite his ailment. 'They want to be in the race. They want to see the five red lights go out and have the experience of a 310-kilometre race,' he said. 'I have got huge admiration for all the drivers and that competitive spirit. 'But when for medical reasons things get too much, then you've got to stop.' Stroll, whose father, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, owns Aston Martin's F1 team, has often performed well at home. He finished a career-best seventh in Montreal last year and has made the top 10 five of six times. Aston Martin, however, has struggled this season. The British outfit is tied for second-last in the constructors' championship with 16 points. 'It might be a little more difficult than last year,' Stroll said. 'We had good straight line speed and that gave us an advantage in Montreal. This year, we have a little less, but historically our team is strong here since 2019.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2025. Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Adrian Newey is 'provoking' Aston Martin
to help speed up the outfit's development. Newey sparked a warning that despite the team's state-of-the-art Silverstone HQ possessing the best equipment, there was a problem with the data correlating with the simulator. Advertisement Newey identified Aston's loop simulator as an area of weakness and said rectifying the issue was 'probably a two-year project in truth'. However, speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Cowell said his design team had leapt on those comments with a view to proving the legendary designer wrong with his prediction. Cowell said: 'Everything that we're doing can improve and needs to improve. Adrian thinks the same. The great thing with Adrian is he knows the level that we need to get to. So he's setting high standards. I'm setting tough standards within the organisation. And then it's about how quickly can we get there. 'Is it going to take us two years to get there? No, it's not. Is Adrian provoking people? Yes, he is. As is Lawrence [Stroll] and Fernando [Alonso] and Lance [Stroll] and myself and many other people within the organisation. Advertisement 'We are all setting high standards to achieve. And the competitive advantage comes from how quickly you achieve it. 'So Adrian's provoking us. He's saying it's going to take everybody two years to achieve that. And everybody in the factory that I've spoken to that's working around the design team is going, 'well, we'll show him! We'll turn it into months rather than years'.' Andy Cowell, Team Principal and Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team with Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Partner of Aston Martin F1 Andy Cowell, Team Principal and Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team with Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Partner of Aston Martin F1 Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images Advertisement Cowell, the team's CEO and team principal, first worked with Newey back in 2004 when the latter was at McLaren; he was working for Mercedes at the time, and says the two have rekindled their working relationship and have open discussions about the improvements they can make. He added: 'I worked together with Adrian, but that's a long time ago now. The last two months we've been working together, and it's very enjoyable. Adrian isn't interested in people management, business organisation, or the way of stitching everything together so that we're all focused on the race car. 'Adrian is focused on the design of the race car, the architecture, and the detailed considerations. He's been in the industry a long time, as have I, and we know our strengths and our weaknesses. I think a strength that we've both got is that we can just talk openly to each other.' Cowell says that his ability to understand the complexities of the F1 hybrid engine – having led Mercedes' successful High Performance Powertrains division – will help him with the integration as Aston switches to Honda engines for 2026. Advertisement He said: 'It's five years ago that I was last poking my nose inside a Formula 1 engine, and so I completely respect that it's Honda's responsibility to create the power unit for '26 onwards for Aston Martin. 'I'm a big believer in everybody that's working on the racing car, whether it's a composite designer, whether it's for suspension, whether it's vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics – we all focus on what's best for the race car, and the best way of coming up with a common language is having a common currency, and that's lap time. 'That said, what I can also do is listen to what the Honda engineers are talking about, what they're battling with, and I can explain that to the people here. I can just take the pressure off this area a little bit. 'And likewise, I can do the same with Honda. I can say, 'look, the integration guys are asking for this because of this'. So hopefully, I can explain both worlds, but we can equate what we're doing from a performance perspective in the common currency of milliseconds.' More: Listen to the JA on F1 podcast at To read more articles visit our website.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Adrian Newey is 'provoking' Aston Martin
to help speed up the outfit's development. Newey sparked a warning that despite the team's state-of-the-art Silverstone HQ possessing the best equipment, there was a problem with the data correlating with the simulator. Advertisement Newey identified Aston's loop simulator as an area of weakness and said rectifying the issue was 'probably a two-year project in truth'. However, speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Cowell said his design team had leapt on those comments with a view to proving the legendary designer wrong with his prediction. Cowell said: 'Everything that we're doing can improve and needs to improve. Adrian thinks the same. The great thing with Adrian is he knows the level that we need to get to. So he's setting high standards. I'm setting tough standards within the organisation. And then it's about how quickly can we get there. 'Is it going to take us two years to get there? No, it's not. Is Adrian provoking people? Yes, he is. As is Lawrence [Stroll] and Fernando [Alonso] and Lance [Stroll] and myself and many other people within the organisation. Advertisement 'We are all setting high standards to achieve. And the competitive advantage comes from how quickly you achieve it. 'So Adrian's provoking us. He's saying it's going to take everybody two years to achieve that. And everybody in the factory that I've spoken to that's working around the design team is going, 'well, we'll show him! We'll turn it into months rather than years'.' Andy Cowell, Team Principal and Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team with Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Partner of Aston Martin F1 Andy Cowell, Team Principal and Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team with Adrian Newey, Managing Technical Partner of Aston Martin F1 Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images Advertisement Cowell, the team's CEO and team principal, first worked with Newey back in 2004 when the latter was at McLaren; he was working for Mercedes at the time, and says the two have rekindled their working relationship and have open discussions about the improvements they can make. He added: 'I worked together with Adrian, but that's a long time ago now. The last two months we've been working together, and it's very enjoyable. Adrian isn't interested in people management, business organisation, or the way of stitching everything together so that we're all focused on the race car. 'Adrian is focused on the design of the race car, the architecture, and the detailed considerations. He's been in the industry a long time, as have I, and we know our strengths and our weaknesses. I think a strength that we've both got is that we can just talk openly to each other.' Cowell says that his ability to understand the complexities of the F1 hybrid engine – having led Mercedes' successful High Performance Powertrains division – will help him with the integration as Aston switches to Honda engines for 2026. Advertisement He said: 'It's five years ago that I was last poking my nose inside a Formula 1 engine, and so I completely respect that it's Honda's responsibility to create the power unit for '26 onwards for Aston Martin. 'I'm a big believer in everybody that's working on the racing car, whether it's a composite designer, whether it's for suspension, whether it's vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics – we all focus on what's best for the race car, and the best way of coming up with a common language is having a common currency, and that's lap time. 'That said, what I can also do is listen to what the Honda engineers are talking about, what they're battling with, and I can explain that to the people here. I can just take the pressure off this area a little bit. 'And likewise, I can do the same with Honda. I can say, 'look, the integration guys are asking for this because of this'. So hopefully, I can explain both worlds, but we can equate what we're doing from a performance perspective in the common currency of milliseconds.' More: Listen to the JA on F1 podcast at To read more articles visit our website.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
'Enjoying the new wind tunnel': Aston Martin's Andy Cowell optimistic as new Silverstone wind tunnel fuels team hopes of F1 resurgence
Andy Cowell (via Getty Images) Aston Martin's Formula 1 aspirations are being given a lift by its brand-new Silverstone wind tunnel . The British team, struggling with a difficult beginning to the 2025 season, now hopes that its in-house, cutting-edge facility will assist in revolutionising the performance of the AMR25 and speed up development for the 2026 car under new regulations. Team principal Andy Cowell claimed that they are 'enjoying the new tool'. Aston Martin targets F1 return with Silverstone wind tunnel breakthrough Aston Martin's new wind tunnel went fully operational in mid-March, a key milestone in the team's ambitious infrastructure growth. In an interview with team principal Andy Cowell highlighted how the Silverstone facility is giving the team a 'clearer' and 'more representative' picture of their aerodynamic performance than the old setup at Mercedes' Brackley headquarters. 'We've transitioned to this tunnel, and there's hardware coming through that we'll see at the circuit in the coming races,' Andy Cowell said. 'They'll never tell you exactly the same, but we are enjoying the new wind tunnel. It's opened our eyes to a few characteristics. Then you've got to do the work. If you've got a new test facility that gives you a clearer view, a more representative view, you've got to then do aero development work. You've got to change shapes, make parts, understand, and then make full-size components to bring to the circuit and measure in this complex environment. We're in that process, enjoying the new tool, and look forward to making a faster race car with it.' Nevertheless, Andy Cowell acknowledged that changes in test venues have downsides. The AMR25 was initially conceived in a different wind tunnel, and the new data calls for realignment. Still, the Silverstone plant will be highly contributory to Aston Martin's efforts to rise again into contention, both in terms of this year's competition and building up the 2026 challenger. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Click Here - This Might Save You From Losing Money Expertinspector Click Here Undo Problems on the track call for improvements The 2025 Formula 1 season has been unkind to Aston Martin up to this point. The team lies seventh in the constructors' championship after five events. Lance Stroll displayed early promise with a total of 10 points through the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix but has been unable to escape Q1 in the recent qualifying sessions. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, has yet to score a point this year, with his best finishes being a pair of 11th places. Andy Cowell did not shy away from the team's struggles. He explained that the intricacy of Formula 1—from aerodynamics to tyre behaviour—makes a comeback extremely difficult. Still, he has hope, considering many performance challenges can still be sorted out during the ongoing rules cycle. Also read: Adrian Newey's iconic drawing board reaches Aston Martin ahead of his joining, confirms Andy Cowell While Aston Martin's 2025 Formula 1 season has not been perfect by any means, the opening of the Silverstone wind tunnel represents a major watershed. With a sharper understanding and a more sophisticated facility now entirely online, the team is committed to translating lessons into performance gains. As they continue with updates and future development, Aston Martin is looking to soon return to the sharp end of the grid, equipped with both ambition and the appropriate tools for the task.
Japan Times
03-03-2025
- Automotive
- Japan Times
New Aston Martin designer Adrian Newey ready to get back to drawing board
London – Adrian Newey will be literally going back to the drawing board when Formula One's foremost designer starts work at Aston Martin on Monday. The 66-year-old Briton, whose departure from Red Bull was announced last May, famously likes to work with pencil and paper in a sport awash with supercomputers and data-crunching on a mind-blowing scale. "His office is ready, the drawing board's there," team principal Andy Cowell told reporters during testing in Bahrain last week.
