Newey announced his departure from Red Bull last season after nearly two decades with the team, prompting a massive bidding war for his services due to his status as the gold standard of F1 engineers.
Ferrari were heavily linked, which would have seen Newey link up with seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, but in the end, Aston Martin won the race.
Looking ahead to the huge regulation changes that are coming in 2026 In an interview with AMuS, Newey revealed he believes the sport will become an engine formula for a while, with one team dominating.
"I think there has to be a big chance that it's an engine formula at the start," he explained.
"Reality is, I can't remember another time in Formula 1 when both the chassis regulations and the engine regulations have changed simultaneously, and where, in this case, the chassis regulations have been very much written to try to compensate, let's say, the power unit regulations.
"So it's an extra dimension. I think engine manufacturers will have learned to an extent on the lack of preparation that the rivals to Mercedes did prior to that change. But there has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top, and it will become a power unit-dominated regulation at least to start with.
"And there's a chance that, if it's on the combustion engine side of it, that it will last through the length of the formula, because the way the regulations are written it is quite difficult for people behind to catch up."