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Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 future has long been the subject of intrigue as rival teams try to lure him away from the grasp of Red Bull.
Last year the main protagonist in all this was Mercedes, as Toto Wolff publicly flirted with the Verstappen camp as he pondered the best replacement for Lewis Hamilton.
But in the background too, the prospect of Aston Martin throwing its hat into the ring emerged, especially in the wake of it capturing Adrian Newey in its efforts to become world championship winners.
It was entirely logical, after all, for the Silverstone-based operation to be a serious candidate for Verstappen.
That is because there is no point signing someone like Newey, spending hundreds of millions on the best facilities and other top-level staff, without then chasing the best driving talent you can get hold of to take your car into battle.
Speculation linking Verstappen and Aston Martin intriguingly moved forward this week when whispers – now published by The Daily Mail – suggested a deal could be on the radar.
Sources hinted that Aston Martin had been telling potential sponsors about why the team was so attractive because its long-term future perhaps involved Verstappen.
The Daily Mail went further and claimed that Jefferson Slack, managing director of commercial and marketing at Aston Martin, had made pitches that Verstappen would be joining them – but emphasised that this was more a firm desire than a done deal.
The story quoted an unnamed source suggesting remarks were about bigging up future prospects rather than confirmation of a deal being in place.
“Jefferson, or Jeff as others know him, has been going around saying Max will be joining Aston Martin,” the source told the newspaper as it hailed a $1 billion bid for Verstappen.
“It may be a ploy, adding extra value to the deal he wants to do, but bringing Max in also makes perfect sense.”
Aston Martin moved quickly to rubbish the claims – and issued a very short and sharp denial of what had been published.
“The team categorically denies the claims in the story,” an Aston Martin spokesman told The Race.
But whatever the reality of what was or was not said in private chats between Aston Martin and potential sponsors, there is an inconvenient truth to the situation – because Aston Martin needs to start thinking about its driver line-up beyond 2026, so Verstappen has to be on its radar.
A timeline for change
At the moment, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are under contract for the next two seasons, after they both agreed fresh deal extensions last year.
There is no suggestion of a rethink over that 2026 time frame – especially because the team will only start seeing the benefit of Newey’s efforts at the start of the new rules era that is coming in then.
However, it is almost certain that there will be a change of line-up for 2027.
With Stroll’s place pretty much guaranteed, it is an Alonso replacement that the team will likely need to get on the front foot with.
Although the two-time world champion is still performing to an exceptionally high level, time and tide wait for no man – and in the middle of 2026, the Spaniard will be 45.
As a reference point, Juan Manuel Fangio holds the record as the oldest driver to win a world championship when he took the 1957 title aged 46.
With F1’s calendar unlikely to shrink, and the toll on the body of the schedule and the current ground effect cars becoming ever more obvious, even Alonso may feel that age has finally caught up with him as he ponders racing into his late 40s.
Speaking last year, he admitted that in his head he will be treating 2026 like his last year in F1.
"Probably - or at least to start - it will be my last season in F1 because my contract finishes at the end of 2026,” he told the BBC. “It is the time of delivering and the time of truth. High expectations.”
But he did leave the door open on continuing if things were running well.
“If 2026 is running smoothly and we are having a good time and there is a possibility to race one more year, I will be open [to it] for sure,” Alonso added.
"I will not close the door beforehand. But I will not start thinking that, and I will take every race as if it is my last race and I will enjoy every second."
Aston Martin is not going to want to wait for Alonso to make a call on 2027 in the middle of the 2026 season though, and risk being left standing on the sidelines if the Spaniard calls it quits and other squads have already locked down the top talent available.
It will be well aware that, as of now, there are a host of race-winning stars potentially on the market, including Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz. These are all in theory free agents for 2027.
But if Aston Martin is serious about being world champion, and has a car that it knows the best will be happy to drive, then would it not make a bid for Verstappen if he was available?
Early access to Mark Hughes' take on Aston's future + its appeal to Verstappen on The Race Members' Club on Patreon
While Verstappen’s current contract runs until 2028, there are known to be performance-related exit clauses - and they could be activated if Red Bull’s era with its own engine in 2026 does not deliver.
Red Bull has been clear that keeping Verstappen on board is all about ensuring it provides him with the best car, so the ball is very much in its court.
The relentless push to win
From Aston’s perspective, if there is one thing that has become abundantly clear from all that Stroll Sr. has done since he took over the team – it’s that he will do everything he can to win.
In some telling remarks from Aston Martin’s new CEO Andy Cowell this week, Stroll’s mindset was made pretty obvious.
“Whatever Lawrence does in life, he wants to be successful at it,” said Cowell. “He wants to win. He's a serial winner.
“If you look at what Lawrence has achieved throughout his career, sooner or later success follows. That's not by coincidence. That's a product of his relentless drive to be the best.
"Lawrence is determined for Aston Martin to be successful in F1, but we're not just talking about winning races and the championship, we're talking about winning many championships."
Cowell has already shown he is not afraid to shake the cage when it comes to shuffling personnel and revising the infrastructure to make sure it is working towards what it calls its ‘northern star’ of being title winners.
Could he prove equally bold and ambitious when it comes to sorting drivers?
Reflecting on the wider title ambitions, Cowell added: “Everything we discuss relates to what is needed to make this vision a reality.
"My job is to work out what organisation is the right one to achieve this vision: Have we got the right structure? Have we got the right people in the right places? Have we got the right infrastructure? Is everyone pulling in the same direction and working as one cohesive unit?”
To suggest anything other than getting the best driving talent on board as part of that, would be to claim that the team is not doing its job properly.
