A report in the British media on Thursday suggested that Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin team is attempting to win sponsors over by claiming that Max Verstappen will join the squad in the near future.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, it is claimed that Aston Martin’s managing director of commercial and marketing Jefferson Slack has been wooing potential sponsors by claiming four-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen is set to join the team.
The claims have been strenuously denied by Aston Martin, with a spokesperson telling PlanetF1.com in a statement: “An Aston Martin Aramco spokesperson categorically denied the story”.
The Silverstone-based squad will field Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll again in F1 2025, with both drivers under contract for the next two seasons. Verstappen is also under contract with Red Bull Racing until the end of the 2028 season.
The Daily Mail claims Slack is pitching to potential investors with claims Verstappen will join the squad in a £1 billion deal which would be one of the biggest in F1’s history – the report also claims Verstappen would ‘almost certainly’ include equity in the team.
Driver contracts do not currently fall under the F1 budget cap which restricts team spending on car and performance-related areas.
The report admits the pitches made to potential investors are being made as a ‘firm desire rather than a certain fact’.
Verstappen’s future with Red Bull did appear shaky at points throughout the F1 2024 season, with Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff openly courting him as a potential successor for seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who is joining Ferrari this year.
The Dutch driver came through what was a turbulent year for Red Bull to win his fourth World Championship and recently said he would like to see out his career at the Milton Keynes-based squad.
“It is not like I need to try to win the World Championship somewhere else,” said Verstappen.
“That is not a desire from my side. I am just happy where I am at.
“And it would also be very beautiful if you just could stay with one team and race there forever. I would like to believe [that could be with Red Bull]. That is the target.
“Am I bothered about a legacy? No. I don’t value my success because of what other people say. If I am happy, that is all that matters.
“In sport, you also need a bit of luck to be in the right team for a long time. It doesn’t mean that the guy with the most titles is actually the best.”
Verstappen has also warned that his time in F1 could be decided by how much he enjoys the new regulations that Formula 1 switches to next season – increased electrification and the removal of the MGU-K on the power unit side will go alongside extensive chassis and aero changes.
With the driving feel set to dramatically change, Verstappen has made it clear that should he not enjoy the regulations, he may not stick around.
Factors that could influence his decision of team in Formula 1 will likely centre on the competitiveness of Red Bull under the new regulations. Honda, which has powered him to all of his titles, leaves to power Aston Martin at the end of this season, while Stroll’s team has also secured the signature of Adrian Newey.
The famed car designer, who oversaw the design of all of Verstappen’s title-winning cars between 2021 and ’24, will start work at Aston Martin on March 3rd – he has taken on the role of managing technical partner as well as becoming a shareholder within the outfit.
The Daily Mail claims that Verstappen’s current earnings of £50 million per year will be eclipsed by a ‘name your price’ offer – speculating that figure to be as high as £200 million per annum if he does decide to follow Newey to Aston Martin.
An unnamed source is quoted 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.”
