Aston Martin launch sensational Max Verstappen move with ‘negotiations underway’ – report

Not only is Aston Martin pursuing Adrian Newey, but Max Verstappen as well, if a report in a prominent Italian publication is to be believed.

Fresh off the back of claims Adrian Newey has decided upon Aston Martin for his next move in F1 once he leaves Red Bull, Italian publication AutoSprint is claiming that team owner Lawrence Stroll is also negotiating with Max Verstappen.

Lawrence Stroll ‘negotiating’ with Max Verstappen?

On Thursday, AutoSprint claimed Newey will be joining Aston Martin next year once he fully departs Red Bull – for whom he is serving a period of soft gardening leave as he sees out his tenure as chief technical officer.

The report suggested Newey has been swayed by a big-money offer from billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll, which will allow Newey to continue working in the UK with a team that has undergone significant investment and infrastructure/facility improvements in recent years.

AutoSprint claims Newey will be announced at Aston Martin in early September, but the claims don’t stop there – the report also claims Stroll is intent on tempting Max Verstappen to follow Newey across to join his team, and that negotiations between the two sides have already begun with an eye towards 2026.

Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull until 2028, although speculation has been rife this year that the Dutch driver has eyed up switches to other teams, with Mercedes’ Toto Wolff making it very clear he is the preference to replace Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time F1 World Champion departs for Ferrari.

But, if Mercedes isn’t where Verstappen sees himself, could it be Aston Martin ? Certainly, securing the services of Newey – who oversaw the designs of Verstappen’s title-winning Red Bulls – would be a big card for Stroll to play if such negotiations are happening, but he would also be reunited with former Red Bull aero head Dan Fallows and, of course, Honda.

The Japanese manufacturer, whose engines became F1’s benchmark in 2021 just as the current engine freeze was introduced, depart Red Bull’s teams after 2025 to switch to an exclusive supply deal for Aston Martin. Verstappen enjoys a close relationship with Honda and may find the proposition of continuing to race with their engines a more tempting offer than the unproven potential of the Red Bull PowerTrains project that Red Bull has embarked upon for the new regulations cycle.

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AutoSprint claims these negotiations as being akin to the changes that occurred between Benetton and Ferrari after 1995, when Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn, and Rory Byrne all departed the world champion team in order to switch to Maranello.

If any of the report proves to be accurate, the big question is what will happen to the current drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. The suggestion is that Stroll could be shifted aside into the Aston Martin WEC programme to drive the Valkyrie – a car created by Red Bull and Aston Martin as a collaborative effort with Newey as the designer.

According to AutoSprint regarding the Newey speculation, the Italian publication claims negotiations between the two sides stalled quite a long time ago, and Ferrari was left shocked by the departure of Enrico Cardile as their technical director jumps ship to Aston Martin – to the point where lawyers are intervening to argue over his period of gardening leave.

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