What do you get when Formula 1's most successful car designer takes full control of a team with cutting-edge technology? A dud, apparently.
The big surprise of F1 preseason testing was seeing design great Adrian Newey's radical-looking Aston Martin at the bottom of the time charts, sometimes slower than new team Cadillac.
Aston Martin arrives at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix this week fighting just to keep its unreliable car running.
At 44, a year at the back of the grid isn't what two-time world champion Fernando Alonso needs, and the difficulties could potentially cause friction with engine supplier Honda.
Newey has been given full control as team principal in arguably his most hands-on role since he was an engineer for Mario Andretti in IndyCar races in the 1980s. So what's gone wrong?
The big problem is that there isn't one big problem.
The Honda engine seems to lack power, but Aston Martin's exclusive works relationship with the Japanese auto giant means there's no other team with a Honda engine to compare it with, or learn from.
Alonso showed great faith in Newey during testing in Bahrain last month, but was more careful with his language about Honda.
“On the chassis there is no doubt. We have the best with us," he said. "After 30-plus years of Adrian Newey dominating the sport I think no one will doubt that we will find a way to have the best car eventually.
“On the power unit, we need to wait and see when we unlock all the performance, where are we, what is missing, and then work hard.”
The Aston Martin is also unreliable and undercooked after arriving late to the first test and missing valuable time due to breakdowns.
Battery problems limited testing time in Bahrain as Honda worked on the issue. Aston Martin also seemed to have gearbox trouble and a shortage of parts.
Is Aston's problem not enough Newey?
After agreeing on his exit from Red Bull, Newey had to wait until March 2025 before starting at Aston Martin, at first as “managing technical partner.”
That was after other teams were already well under way with their 2026 work. Newey has talked of working long days and said in November that his wife Amanda complained he was in a “design trance” and unsociable.
“What limited processing power I have is all concentrated on the task in hand, given these pressing deadlines, but that’s not a state to stay in for too long,” he added.
Newey still sketches out ideas on a drawing board to explore design concepts and has access to brand-new facilities built at great expense by Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll.
Newey is also skeptical about handing over key design processes to AI. “Even with AI advancing as rapidly as it is, we’re a long way off,” Newey said in November. “It really depends very heavily on human ideas and that really is, I suppose, the essence of Formula 1. That ability to conceptualize, to react quickly and to be self-critical.”
Long before he was an F1 great, Newey shuttled between Britain and the United States in the mid-1980s designing Indianapolis 500-winning cars and getting his hands dirty preparing them trackside for greats like Mario Andretti, his son Michael and Bobby Rahal.
It was a punishing schedule, but all the red-eye flights gave Newey time to develop concepts which later revolutionized F1 design.
“I look back at my ideas now and I can pinpoint which ones I did over the Atlantic,” he wrote in his 2017 autobiography.
Newey's designs transformed F1, winning 12 constructors' titles and 13 drivers' championships from Nigel Mansell's 1992 win with Williams to Max Verstappen's fourth in a row with Red Bull in 2024.
Newey's exit from Red Bull that year followed 18 years at the team, after record-breaking dominance for his RB19 design the year before, and as the team faced uncertainty around then-team principal Christian Horner and star driver Max Verstappen.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey smiles in the paddock prior to the start of the sprint qualifying at the Lusail International Circuit ahead of the Qatar Formula One Grand Prix, in Lusail, Qatar, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)
As the war in the Middle East intensifies, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. has “the capability to go far longer" than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for its military operations against Iran.
Across Tehran, the sound of explosions rang out through the night and into the early morning hours Tuesday, as the U.S. and Israel have continued to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.
The intensity of the attacks and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Israel and the U.S. have given conflicting answers about what exactly the war’s objectives are or what the endgame might be.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Monday defended the decision to go to war, contending in an interview on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity" that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” that would make “their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months,” without providing evidence.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war, with analysts saying it was likely Tehran was trying to assess damage from American strikes in June and possibly salvage what remained there.
Here is the latest:
The U.N. human rights chief is calling for a “prompt, impartial and thorough investigation” into what Iran says was an airstrike that hit a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.
Volker Türk is “deeply shocked” by the fallout of the hostilities on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, followed by counterattacks by Tehran and its allies in the region.
Alluding to the reported strike on the girls school, rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said “the onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it.”
She called for those forces to make the findings public and ensure accountability and redress for victims.
The rights office said it was making no assessment who might be responsible.
U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins has said he was “aware of reports” that a girls’ school was struck and that officials were looking into them.
An Israeli military spokesperson said Sunday he is not aware of any Israeli or American strikes in the area.
A Qatari official says Iranian attacks in the gas-rich country “will not go unanswered” as the Iran war expands in the Middle East.
Majed Al Ansari, a spokesman of the Qatari foreign ministry, said the Iranian attacks not only targeted military facilities but struck across all of Qatar’s territory.
“Such attacks will not go unanswered,” he said in a briefing.
He said there were attempted attacks on the Hamad International airport, adding that more than 8,000 people have been stranded as the country’s airspace remains closed.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan renewed his call for an end to escalating violence and a return to diplomacy.
“Our fundamental request and demand is clear: the mutual attacks must stop immediately and diplomacy must resume,” Fidan said, according to a transcript of his remarks to journalists late Monday.
The minister said Turkey consistently emphasizes this message during talks with other leaders.
Commenting on Iran’s attacks on Gulf states’ facilities, Fidan said Iran hopes these countries will pressure the United States to stop the war, while adding he believes that outcome “is not likely.”
The Italian government said Tuesday it is working “non-stop” to assist Italian citizens stranded in the Middle East.
Italy scheduled two flights including one from Muscat, Oman, to Rome’s Fiumicino airport Tuesday to carry around 300 people and another from Abu Dhabi to Milan to carry about 200 people, mostly young students.
Another two flights are set to depart from Abu Dhabi to Milan and Rome in the early afternoon Tuesday, while an additional flight from Muscat has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto sparked a political controversy at home after being stranded in Dubai with his family during the initial phase of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, returning to Rome on Sunday on a military aircraft.
The left-wing opposition called for Crosetto’s resignation, stressing the minister travelled alone to an area of crisis without being informed of the deteriorating situation. Premier Giorgia Meloni defended the minister on Monday, saying he never stopped doing his job.
Romanian tourists arrived in Bucharest early Tuesday after traveling from Israel to Cairo to escape the conflict.
Hundreds of Romanian Orthodox Church pilgrims were stranded in Israel while visiting Bethlehem on a trip led by Romanian priests when the war broke out. The group was forced to cut their trip short to return to Romania.
Romanian pilgrim Mariana Muicaru said she was terrified as rockets flew across the sky in Israel.
“We called our children at 3 a.m. to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them and to let them know that it’s over for us,” she told The Associated Press.
The Kremlin said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will convey the Gulf leaders’ concern over the Iranian strikes on their territory to Iran.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin will “make every effort to facilitate at least minor easing of tension.”
He noted that after Monday’s calls with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Putin will convey their “deep concern about the strikes on their infrastructure” to Tehran.
A senior Hezbollah official says that after more than a year of abiding by the ceasefire as Israel’s strikes continued on Lebanon, the group’s patience has ended, leaving it with no option “but to return to resistance” and fight an open war with Israel.
Mohamoud Komati said Tuesday that Hezbollah exercised patience since a ceasefire ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in November 2024, hoping the government’s diplomatic efforts would yield positive results in ending Israeli strikes.
In the comments released by Hezbollah’s media office, Komati blasted the Lebanese government for calling Hezbollah’s actions illegal and demanded it hand over its weapons, saying it did not act to stop Israel’s airstrikes that continued on almost daily basis for nearly 15 months.
“The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement,” Komati said. “So let it be an open war.”
Saudi Arabia has condemned in the strongest terms Iran’s drone strike that hit the U.S. embassy in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
“The brutal Iranian behavior … will push the region into further escalation,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement, which reiterated the nation’s right to protect Saudi territories and interests, including “the option of responding to the aggression.”
The Saudi Defense Ministry said the U.S. embassy came under attack from two drones early Tuesday.
Footage aired by the Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al Arabiya showed fire damage on one part of the roof of U.S. Embassy in Riyadh after the drone attack.
Sirens sounded in Bahrain on Tuesday afternoon as a new Iranian attack was expected.
China, a major importer of oil and natural gas from the Mideast, has called on all sides to stop the fighting and ensure ships can pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has attacked several ships in the the narrow strait through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending oil and gas prices soaring.
“China urges all parties to immediately cease military operations, avoid escalating tensions, safeguard the safety of shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz and prevent greater impacts on the global economy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.
The Israeli military said Tuesday it has struck Iran’s presidential office and the building of the country’s Supreme National Security Council.
It said the airstrikes happened overnight.
“In addition, the gathering site of the regime’s most senior forum responsible for security decision-making was targeted, as well as the institution for training Iranian military officers and additional key regime infrastructure,” it added.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site sustained “some recent damage” during a U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign, though it said there was “no radiological consequence expected” from it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the damage was focused on “entrance buildings” to the underground portion of the atomic site.
Natanz earlier came under attack by the U.S. in the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.
The IAEA said it saw “no additional impact” detected at Natanz’s fuel enrichment plant, which is buried underground.
Nuclear material is still believed to be buried at the plant alongside damaged and destroyed centrifuges. However, the IAEA has not been allowed to visit any of the attacked sites by Iran since that war.
Airstrikes by the United States and Israel have killed at least 787 people in Iran since the start of the war, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said Tuesday.
The organization offered the toll in a message on X.
Israel’s military said Iran launched missiles at the country and it was working to intercept them.
The Israeli military struck a building in a southern suburb of Beirut housing Hebzollah’s TV and radio station, causing heavy damage.
The strike after midnight Monday came after a warning by the Israeli military to evacuate the building. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV was interrupted for about an hour before the station resumed its programs.
During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Al-Manar TV and al-Nour Radio station were both struck but continued broadcasts from secret locations.
Cypriot officials say France will dispatch a warship to Cyprus to help bolster the country’s anti-drone defenses after a Rashed drone struck a British military base on the east Mediterranean island.
France also will send additional land-based, anti-drone and anti-missile systems to the country, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Germany also responded positively to a request to send a warship, according to three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to provide details publicly.
The equipment will arrive in Cyprus as soon as possible, they said
The French military did not respond immediately to a request for information from The Associated Press.
The drone struck the British base, RAF Akrotiri, shortly after midnight Monday and caused only minor material damage to an aircraft hangar. Another two drones were intercepted by British warplanes around midday Monday after they were scrambled from the air base, officials said.
Greece has sent four F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus while two of its state-of-the-art frigates are on their way.
A fire broke out in an oil industrial facility Fujairah, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, as forces intercepted a drone attack, authorities said.
No casualties were reported.
The government media office in Fujairah said the drone was intercepted and that shrapnel landed in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.
The office said the fire was put down and operations resumed.
At least five people were killed or wounded in airstrikes in Iran’s western city of Hamadan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Strikes also were reported across other cities, including Isfahan and Shiraz.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army is evacuating some of its positions along the border with Israel.
The agency said the troops are redeploying to other posts.
The report comes after Israel’s military said it is conducting operations inside Lebanon along the border with Israel.
Israel’s army said Tuesday that Iran’s firepower has been weakened.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran have “limited significantly” Iran’s ability to fire.
Shoshani said Israel has been going after Iran’s missile launchers and have taken out dozens of them.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles but it’s hard to tally the total amount with Iran also striking other countries, he said.
The pace of missiles being launched at Israel has slowed since the first two days of the war.
Shoshani said the slowdown also could be partly attributed to Iran understanding the war could go on for longer than they had thought and they are trying to pace themselves.
Iran has started the process of returning Iranian pilgrims from the shrine cities of Mecca and Medina, state media said Tuesday.
Alireza Enayati, Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said the process of returning 9,000 Iranians currently in the cities of Mecca and Medina began Monday.
In a report carried by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, Enayati said the departure is taking place in the same manner as during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in 2025. Iranian pilgrims will leave Saudi Arabia through Saudi–Iraqi border crossings and return to Iran from Iraq.
The announcement came during the Muslim holy month of Ramada and a widening that has seen Iran target sites in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. ambassador in Israel told Americans there that the best way to leave is through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Mike Huckabee said in a social media post early Tuesday that the embassy was receiving lots of evacuations requests as embassy staff “are sheltering in place.”
“There are VERY LIMITED options,” he wrote. “Not sure when Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv will reopen.”
He advised Americans to take buses to Egypt’s resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba in southern Sinai, describing that route as “best.”
The U.S. State Department evacuations of non-emergency personnel and family reached six nations on Tuesday with the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and long considered a safe corner of the Middle East, has been dragged into the Iran war with interceptions and attacks.
The other countries include Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan. Kuwait and Qatar.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi also warned there could be militant attacks in the UAE as well.
“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning and may target tourist locations, transportation hubs, shopping areas, government facilities, places of worship, and in particular locations associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities,” it added.
A camp for Iranian Kurdish opposition in the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq was attacked Tuesday morning, an official said.
A missile and drone hit the Azadi camp in Irbil and slightly injured one person, according to Kareem Parwizi, a senior official with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
Oman said a drone hit a fuel tank at its port in Duqm on Tuesday.
The state-run Oman News Agency said no one was hurt in the attack.
Duqm has been a key resupply route for the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which is operating in the Arabian Sea.
The Israeli military says one of its divisions is operating inside southern Lebnaon and took positions on several strategic points close to the border.
The Arabic language spokesperson of the Israeli military posted on X that the troops’ move inside Lebanon is part of its efforts to bolster the forward defense system and create an addition layer of security.
The military said that at the same time the air force is conducting strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in the area to thwart threats and prevent infiltration attempts into Israel.
The Israeli operations inside Lebanon came after a long night of airstrikes on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military says there are no immediate plans to deploy ground troops in Iran.
Asked about the possibility of sending in ground forces, spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters it is “not very likely.”
Thailand is intensifying security around the U.S., Israeli and Iranian embassies as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies.
Public broadcaster Thai PBS quoted the head of the National Security Council, Chatchai Bangchua, describing the additional measures as he said authorities would also monitor sites linked to the countries.
Thailand depends heavily on tourism and is one of Asia’s most-visited countries, attracting more than 32 million foreigners last year. It is a popular destination for Americans, Israelis and citizens of Gulf countries and before recent airspace closures received dozens of direct flights from the Middle East each week.
The Israeli military says soldiers are “operating in southern Lebanon’ as it continues strikes against Hezbollah.
In a statement, it said the troops are positioned at a several points near the border in what it described as a “forward defense posture” as it battles Hezbollah militants.
It says the deployment is part of a broader effort to increase security for residents in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. It has also beefed up troops and air defenses in the area.
The army says there are no plans to evacuate Israeli residents of border areas.
Israel has been occupying five positions in southern Lebanon since a November 2024 ceasefire ended more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani says the new deployment is in addition to those five positions, with the aim of preventing attacks on Israeli border towns.
The U.S. State Department added Kuwait and Qatar to the evacuation list from its Mideast diplomatic outposts.
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is shutting down as the Middle East is grabbed in a widening war.
The embassy said in a social media post Tuesday that it is closing “until further notice” due to the war.
Iran on Tuesday held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 people killed in what it described as an attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.
Iranian state television showed thousands of people filling a public square. Men waved the Islamic Republic flag while largely standing apart from women draped in black chadors.
From the stage, a women who said she was the mother of “Atena” held up a printed image of portraits that she called “a document of American crimes.” She added, “They died in the way of God.”
The crowd erupted into chants of “Death to America,” “Death to Israel” and “No surrender.”
U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was aware of reports that a girls’ school was struck and officials were looking into them.
An Israeli military spokesperson said Sunday he was not aware of any Israeli or U.S. strikes in the area.
Qatar Airways said it would remain grounded Tuesday over the war.
Amazon said Monday that two of its data centers in United Arab Emirates were hit by drones, while a drone strike near one of its facilities in Bahrain “caused physical impacts to our infrastructure.”
The tech giant said on its website that the strikes have caused structural damage and gotten in the way of power getting to infrastructure. The company did not say who was responsible for the strikes.
“We are working to restore full service availability as quickly as possible, though we expect recovery to be prolonged given the nature of the physical damage involved,” Amazon said.
Iran is continuing to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Perisan Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.
Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, issued the threat on Iranian state television on Monday.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Anyone who wants to pass, our devotee heroes in the IRGC navy and the army will set those ships on fire,” he said. “Don’t come to this region.”
The Israeli military said Tuesday it was conducting “simultaneous targeted strikes against military targets in Tehran and Beirut,” without elaborating.
The U.S. State Department said it added Iraq to the evacuation list from its Mideast diplomatic outposts.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan.
The State Department announcement online said the decision came “due to safety risks.” The department has urged Americans across the Mideast to leave over the ongoing war with Iran.
The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia acknowledged coming under attack from Iranian drones Tuesday and urged Americans to avoid the diplomatic post for the time being.
The Saudi Defense Ministry earlier Tuesday said the embassy was attacked by two drones.
Across Iran’s capital, the sound of explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning hours.
Witnesses described hearing aircraft overhead as well.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit.
Iranian state television early Tuesday read a statement from the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, saying that it launched a missile and drone attack targeting an air base in Bahrain.
Israeli airstrikes hit the Lebanese capital Tuesday morning.
The Israeli military said it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in Beirut.”
Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base.
The Israeli military said it downed two drones.
Tokyo has told Japanese shipowners to have their ships stay away from the Persian Gulf to ensure the safety of their crew members.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that the Transport Ministry has notified the Japanese Shipowners’ Association to do the utmost to protect crews on board the ships in the region.
Kihara said those already in the Gulf are urged to lie at anchor where it is safe to do so.
On Monday, Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with Iranian ambassador to Japan Peiman Seadat and conveyed Japan’s consistent stance that Iran must stop attacks on neighboring countries and other actions destabilizing the region.
Motegi also noted the importance of ensuring safety in the Strait of Hormuz, which is key to Japan’s energy security.
Iran’s top diplomat early Tuesday sought to turn the tables on the United States, describing it as entering “a war of choice on behalf of Israel.”
After Trump urged Iranians to take over their government, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the same call to Americans.
“Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters,” Araghchi wrote on X. “American people deserve better and should take back their country.”
This partially redacted image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows a complex of structures in Iran being struck by missiles fired by U.S. forces on Sunday, March 1, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via AP)
President Donald Trump walks past Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he exist the East Room of the White House following the Medal of Honor ceremony, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Rescue workers carry a dead body in a plastic bag from a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Jnah neighborhood, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A poster of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, and the late Iranian Revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, right, lays on a motorcycle amid debris left by a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
