Max Verstappen joining Aston Martin is no more than a pipe dream, according to the guru who designed his world championship-winning cars.
Adrian Newey made the declaration as he spoke publicly for the first time since starting at Aston in March, following his move from Red Bull on a £100million five-year deal.
‘Max is clearly a phenomenal talent and he’s a supreme competitor,’ said Newey ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, the showpiece event his cars have won on 11 occasions.
‘Part of that means Max likes to break things down to a simple equation — in this case choosing the team he believes will deliver the fastest car. So, if we are ever to attract Max, the first thing is to make a fast car.’
When will that be? ‘I’ve got absolutely no idea,’ said Newey.
Pressed again on the prospect of being reunited with Verstappen, he added: ‘There’s no point in pipe-dreaming.’
Max Verstappen is on a £60m annual retainer at Red Bull until 2028 but could leave in 2027
Adrian Newey turned down Ferrari and a host of other suitors to move to Aston Martin in March
Fernando Alonso steers his Aston Martin around Monaco’s famous street track during practice
Verstappen is on a £60m annual retainer at Red Bull until 2028 (though there are opt-out clauses) and has told the team he wants to stay put, certainly for next year. But with new regulations in 2026, he is likely to assess how Red Bull adapt. He could potentially move in 2027, with Mercedes and Aston Martin possible refuges, but sources close to Verstappen indicate that if the 27-year-old were to jump ship he would only do so once in his career.
Newey, who has been working relentlessly at his drawing board over the past couple of months, is assessing how to improve Aston’s performance overall. He singled out the simulator as a problem, revealing it does not correlate to track performance and would take two years to rectify — again hardly music to Verstappen’s ears.
But Newey, 66, added: ‘There are a lot of very good people. We just need to get them working together in a slightly better-organised way. That’s simply a result of the roots of the team — as Jordan, that became Force India, that became Racing Point.
‘It was always a small but over-performing team and has gone in a very short space of time into a very big team.’
In practice, Verstappen was only 10th-fastest, with local boy Charles Leclerc top in both sessions for Ferrari.