Aston Martin boss Cowell explains how wind tunnel has ‘opened our eyes’ to new tricks

Andy Cowell has admitted to Aston Martin’s new wind tunnel “opening our eyes” in the weeks since it went live, with the team “looking forward to making a faster race car” as a result.

Commissioning a wind tunnel is the latest development in the Silverstone-based operation’s ambitious plan to become F1 championship challengers over the coming seasons.

It has been slotted into their state-of-the-art campus next to the British Grand Prix venue, while complementing a works Honda power unit deal for 2026 and beyond, key hires including technical guru Adrian Newey and much more.

Team Principal Cowell confirmed that the wind tunnel has been in use since mid-March and is taking on both 2025 and 2026 aerodynamic development, with the first fruits of that labour due to hit the track soon.

Aston Martin’s wind tunnel is part of their impressive new campus at Silverstone

“We’ve transitioned to this tunnel, and there’s hardware coming through that we’ll see at the circuit in the coming races,” Cowell explained at the recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Aston Martin previously using engine supplier Mercedes’ wind tunnel.

“People often talk about how to tell the time when you’ve got two watches – how do you tell the aero load when development work has been done in one wind tunnel and then you swap across to the next?

“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.”

Aston Martin’s new wind tunnel has gone live amid a challenging start to the 2025 season for the outfit, who took just 10 points from the opening five rounds.

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“I guess we’re not happy with the performance of the car,” Cowell commented. “We’d like it to be quicker, we’d like to be picking up points at every single race. The team’s very ambitious.

“But it’s a complex business – lots of interacting systems from tyres to aero and others. Getting on top of all of that is exceptionally challenging. When you look at the lap time difference across all the teams, it is incredibly close.”

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He added: “We’re in the last year of these regulations. We’re a relatively young team trying to dial in new tools and trying to understand it, and not just trying to survive, but to really succeed.

“There are many areas where, if we could go back to the start of the year with the same car, we could do better at every event. That gives us hope. There are relatively easy things we can do to move forward, but some exceptionally complicated things we’ve got master as well.”

Aston Martin’s points tally puts them seventh in the Teams’ Championship ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, with Racing Bulls, Alpine and Kick Sauber sitting behind them.