Johnny Herbert predicts the end of Adrian Newey's career.

      Johnny Herbert, a former Formula 1 driver, believes that the frankly disastrous first half of the Aston Martin season is, on one hand, truly surprising, but on the other, it may be a sign of the decline of Adrian Newey's illustrious career, as any success story eventually comes to an end.

      “Look at Aston Martin: they have everything – a new base, a new wind tunnel, and everything else. Moreover, Fernando Alonso is driving for this team,” Herbert reflected, and his words are also quoted by the Spanish newspaper Marca. “It’s hard to understand why things are going so poorly for them, but for some reason, Adrian hasn’t been able to assemble an effective engineering team capable of creating a good car. The team is trying to achieve high results, but the AMR26 cannot even be considered halfway competitive.

      Maybe this is a sign of the decline of Adrian Newey's career, and now his fortunes will start to slide? This happens all the time in the world of sports; even the best are not immune to it. It is inevitable, and even if it hasn’t happened yet, it will eventually.”

      However, at the Hungarian stage of the championship, the Silverstone team presented a significantly upgraded version of the chassis, and this immediately reflected in the results – at least Fernando Alonso made it to the second part of qualifying for the first time this season. For the Dutch Grand Prix, Aston Martin is preparing the next set of technical innovations, while Honda's engine department is working on an improved engine.

      All of this is encouraging, so not everyone shares Herbert's pessimism. For example, another former Formula 1 driver, David Coulthard, holds a completely different view: “In the next two years, this team will make the most progress. I am ready to predict that within two years they will start winning races.”