A few months ago, Max Verstappen‘s father, Jos, made a tall claim slash prophecy that his son’s team, Red Bull, is on the verge of falling apart. At the time, we thought he said this in furtherance of the Christian Horner Controversy and his own very public fallout with him. However, as we stand at the juncture of F1’s summer break, we are beginning to realize that Red Bull as a team and its dominant run are both endangered.

There have been seven different race winners in only 14 races this year, as opposed to Max’s dominant run in 2023. To add to that misery, the two key figures, Adrian Newey and Johnathan Wheatly, have both called it a day at Milton Keynes and are in their ‘last lap’ with the champion team. Jos clearly knew more than we did! With RB’s downfall and Aston Martin’s recent moves combined with their ambitious rise, the silliest move of the future silly season is the latest rumor on the block.

Max Verstappen’s latest suitor Lawrence Stroll has reportedly signed Adrian Newey with a $100 million deal

In an episode of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, Lawrence Stroll said he wanted to build the best F1 team in the world. In furtherance of this, team owner Lawrence Stroll has been fighting and recruiting left, right, and center. The first piece of that dream puzzle is Adrian Newey. Reportedly, the team has signed Newey with a $100 million deal. Furthermore, the Canadian billionaire is now interested in poaching Max Verstappen to replace the 43-year-old Fernando Alonso. It is understood that Alonso’s retirement will probably begin when his current contract ends. The clues over the past few months have also added to these rumors.

Image Credits: Imago
Lawrence Stroll (L) and Adrian Newey (R)

Talking about the Newey to Aston Martin move, in the Sky F1 podcast, Ted Kravitz said, “Adrian Newey, I said this at the time and I’ll say it again if you’re working in the Red Bull factory, two words you don’t want to hear: Adrian’s leaving. Can you imagine the impact of those words? It’s like what? Adrian’s going? Oh no. So the impact of Newey leaving and potentially going to Aston Martin, the latest hot rumor to have signed his services to be announced at the end of the summer break–we’ll see if that turns out to be true or not. I think it’s more the environment that Newey… obviously the financial recompenses is important in terms of your value to a team, and if you win World Championships, then you’re going to add that value back to the team.”

He added, “I think it’s more important for the people that he’s working with, the environment he’s working under, and where he’s working. You look at the investment that’s already happened at Aston Martin, you look at their factory, he’s already got Dan Fallows, who he worked with successfully at Red Bull Racing there with him. He would have, I imagine, definitely talked to Dan Fallows. He would have taught Dan Fallows about what is this place that I’m coming to. What’s it like? And I asked Dan Fallows about this in Hungary. Actually, I said, ‘Would you be happy, you know, bringing him back?’ And Fallows said, ‘Look, what you have to understand is that Adrian is a relentless, unstoppable Formula 1 competitor, and I would be amazed if he didn’t join another team. And we would certainly, I would certainly welcome working with Adrian again at Aston Martin.’’ With this information and that of the latest rumors, Max’s move (second piece of the puzzle) to AM seems almost inevitable.

“Could Aston Martin also be a destination for Max Verstappen?”: former mechanic answers the rumors

In a recent interview, Max Verstappen spoke of “loyalty” to Red Bull when asked about his Formula 1 future, but that doesn’t mean he’s not considering F1 2026 ahead of the big rule changes. According to Italian publication AutoSprint, having persuaded design legend Newey to join Aston Martin in a deal worth $100 million, team owner Lawrence Stroll has now set his sights on Verstappen. The publication stated negotiations are already underway with an eye on the three-time champ joining the team in 2026. Such is Stroll’s desire to bring Verstappen on board, it is claimed, that he’ll even shift his son Lance to Aston Martin’s World Endurance Championship program to make room for the Dutchman.

Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley believes it’s because Aston Martin could offer Verstappen the opportunity to be in a flourishing environment., not only with their state-of-the-art facilities but also with team members such as Newey. “Could Aston Martin also be a destination for Max Verstappen?” he asked on his YouTube channel. He added. “Now this seems like a very strange and unlikely one and yet it was a rumor–Max Verstappen to Aston Martin alongside Adrian Newey. Well, that could be a dream team of its own, couldn’t it? Now if you think about that, yes, a driver pairing of Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, if he’s still around at that point, that is a wonderful partnership. They are building a great team of engineers in the background and if they get Adrian Newey and the people he wants around him, the design team is also looking pretty great. They have got a wonderful facility with the very best and latest when it comes to things like wind tunnel.”

If Max Verstappen fills in the big shoes of Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey does end up at Aston Martin, it surely will be a dream team.