Max Verstappen will start his tenth season at Red Bull this year, hoping to win a fifth World Champion title that would take him to the Mt. Olympus of Formula 1 drivers, alongside Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Juan Manuel Fangio. However, in recent days, rumours have circulated about a possible move to Aston Martin.
According to these talks, Aston Martin had approached Verstappen with a £1 billion contract, hoping he would leave Red Bull before his current contract ends in 2028. That would be a huge move in the Formula 1 landscape, as big as Hamilton joining Ferrari, and one that, adding to the signing of engineer Adrian Newey for the 2026 car, would catapult Aston Martin's chances of becoming a top team after mediocre seasons.
During the F1 75 event in London last week, both Verstappen as well as Christian Horner, team principal at Red Bull, debunked those rumours. "It's a lot of money! Honestly, when I read that, it's the first time that I saw something like that. The only contact that I had with them was about GT3 for this year. That's it. There's not much to say, really, because there isn't anything", said the Dutch champion, referring to his own team for GT3, Verstappen.com Racing, which will have some partnership with Aston Martin, "but it's not me personally driving".
Horner also responded to the rumours, saying that "I know you guys [the media] have all got column inches to fill over a winter period, but a billion-pound driver, a billion dollars, it would be an eye-wateringly large amount of money", doubting the veracity of the rumours, adding that "I think Max is very happy in the environment that he's in".