Aston Martin are discussing the arrival of four-time world champion Max Verstappen, according to a sensational report.
The Daily Mail write that the team’s managing director of commercial and marketing, Jefferson Slack, has been talking up the Dutchman’s arrival to potential sponsors.
The report doesn’t say when a deal would be struck, with Verstappen’s current Red Bull bull lasting until 2028, but speculation around his future has circled around 2026.
That’s because of new engine regulations coming in, and with his lifelong team Red Bull seemingly going backwards, Mercedes have openly talked up a move.
The report also claims the contract could be worth £1billion, although that’s based on a strenuous assumption that Aston Martin would increase the 27-year-old’s current salary from £50million per-year to £200m per-year because the driver can ‘name his price’.
On a five-year deal that would equate to £1bn, although Verstappen has regularly said that he won’t race into his 30s and could retire at the end of his current contract in 2028.
Yet Aston owner Lawrence Stroll has proven he’s not afraid of paying over the odds, having already signed Formula 1’s greatest-ever car designer Adrian Newey for a reported £30m per-year.
Newey isn’t even an athlete, but that figure is understood to make him the third-highest paid Briton involved in sport, behind only Lewis Hamilton and Tyson Fury.
Stroll, who fields his son Lance for the Aston team, has regularly shown he’s happy to flex his financial might, perhaps even more so than manufacturing giants and rivals Ferrari and Mercedes.
In 2023 he signed two-time champion Fernando Alonso for a reported £21m per-year, and has since opened a £200m state of the art factory next to Silverstone which crucially includes the team’s own wind tunnel.
The Mail quotes a source as saying: “Jefferson, or Jeff as others know him, has been going around saying that Max is going to be joining Aston Martin. It may be a ploy, adding extra value to the deal he wants to do, but bringing Max in also makes perfect sense.
“They have signed Adrian Newey on £20million-a-year as the greatest car designer of all time, and Lawrence won’t let that be the extent of it.
“He has said he wants to win the world title, and he won’t let anything stand in his way. He wants to end the dominant era headed by Christian Horner (at Red Bull) and Toto Wolff (at Mercedes).
“Adrian is believed to think that Lance Stroll (son of owner Lawrence) is not a good enough driver. And that Fernando Alonso, being 43, is too old.
“Adrian is determined to make a success of himself yet again and wants to work with the best.
“They gave Adrian a shareholding to get him over from Red Bull and they could conceivably do the same with Max.”
Much like with Newey’s deal the Mail add that Verstappen’s would ‘almost certainly include equity in the team’.
The news comes after a 2024 season that started with Red Bull over 20 seconds ahead of their rivals at the season-opener, and ended with them possessing the third-fastest car behind McLaren and Ferrari.
Negativity swarmed around the team regarding allegations against team principal and CEO Christian Horner, which saw Verstappen’s father Jos go to war with him, saying Red Bull would ‘implode’ if he didn’t leave his post.
Jos recently doubled-down on his negativity ahead of the new season, saying: “I still have my doubts about that (competing in 2025). Red Bull has to build a car that is more predictable under all circumstances.
“If you look at the second half of 2024, you can’t be optimistic. Red Bull simply hasn’t managed to make the car consistently fast. Why would that be the case this year?
“I’ve talked enough about the reasons why the team is in danger of falling apart. Let’s leave it at that. One thing is certain: Red Bull faces a major task in 2025.”