The Aston Martin appeal for Max Verstappen with ‘dream team’ line-up touted

A report in Italian media claims Max Verstappen and Lawrence Stroll are in negotiations about an Aston Martin switch.

From Adrian Newey to Fernando Alonso to their state-of-the-art facilities, Aston Martin would be an “exciting” option for a driver like Max Verstappen who wants the “very best”.

Despite declaring “yes” he will be a Red Bull driver next season, Verstappen continues to be linked to rival teams with Mercedes publicly courting the driver, while more recently there are rumours Aston Martin are making a play for the driver.

‘If indeed Max Verstappen ends up leaving the Red Bull team…’

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 claims negotiations are already underway with an eye to the triple World Champion joining the team in 2026.

Such is Stroll’s desire to bring Verstappen on board, it is claimed, he’ll even shift his son Lance to Aston Martin’s World Endurance Championship programme to make room for the Dutchman.

But it begs the question why would Verstappen choose Aston Martin over his current team Red Bull, with whom he has won 63 Grands Prix and three World titles?

For that matter, why Aston Martin instead of Mercedes who prior to Red Bull’s reign won eight Constructors’ and seven Drivers’ Championship titles on the trot?

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Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley believes it’s because Aston Martin could offer Verstappen the opportunity to be “surrounded by the very best”, not only when it comes to the team’s new state-of-the-art facilities, but also team members such as Newey and double World Champion Alonso.

“Could Aston Martin also be a destination for Max Verstappen?” he asked on his YouTube channel.

“Now this seems like a very strange and unlikely one and yet it was a rumour – 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 got an Adrian Newey and the people he wants around him, the design team is also looking pretty great.

“They have got a wonderful facility with very best and latest when it comes to things like wind tunnel.

“All things that are exciting to both an engineer like Adrian but also to a driver like Max, someone who is looking to be surrounded by the very best as he moves forward in his career if indeed he ends up leaving the Red Bull team.”

Verstappen and Alonso would be a dream line-up for any team, although it could also come with a few headaches as neither is a driver who is willing to back down.

They do, however, have mutual respect with Verstappen calling Alonso a “great example” of the rewards of remaining committed to Formula 1, and says he has “a lot of respect” for the Spaniard.

From his side, Alonso says the triple World Champion is a “normal” person who loves motorsport and is “very fast. I think his attitude and behaviour here in the circuit, he is very normal and I like these kinds of things.”

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