Max Verstappen responds to the swirling rumours that Aston Martin are preparing a historic £1 billion offer to lure him away from Red Bull by dismissing the speculation as unfounded as he prepares for the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The reports, originating from the dailymail.com, suggested that the Dutchman could be enticed to join Aston Martin with a contract that would see him earn approximately $1.264bn/€1.207bn over the remainder of his career for the dramatic switch.
However, Verstappen was quick to clarify his position when questioned about the chatter and stressed his only involvement with the brand is connected to their separate GT3 racing project as he plans to launch his own team, away from F1 side of things.
“When I read that, it was the first time I’d seen anything like that,” Verstappen said. “That’s it. There is nothing more to say, because there is really nothing there.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull‘s team principal, also dismissed the speculation, suggesting that the rumour was a product of F1’s traditionally quiet winter months.
“I know you guys [the media] have all got column inches to fill over a winter period,” Horner told reporters. “But a billion-pound driver, a billion dollars, it would be an eye-wateringly large amount of money.
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“I think Max is very happy in the environment that he’s in. He’s grown up in the team, he has a great relationship with the team, the engineers, the technicians and everybody that he works with.
“It’s down to us to provide a competitive car and continue to give him the platform to be able to achieve the results that he has over the last almost 10 years.”
Despite Verstappen’s denial, Aston Martin remains ambitious in its quest to become a dominant force in the sport shortly after securing legendary car designer Adrian Newey with a lucrative £20 million-a-year contract and a stake in the team as their managing technical partner.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll has been making aggressive moves to elevate the team’s competitiveness, including revolutionising their factories based close to the Silverstone Circuit which hosts the British Grand Prix annually.
Also according to reports, Aston Martin’s managing director of commercial and marketing, Jefferson Slack, has been actively discussing Verstappen’s potential signing with investors creating a buzz the Dutchman could be spotted in green soon.
“Jefferson has been going around saying that Max is going to be joining Aston Martin,” a source told the dailymail.com. “It may be a ploy to add value to the deal he wants to make, but bringing Max in also makes perfect sense.”
Would Verstappen ever leave Red Bull for Aston Martin?
Currently under contract with Red Bull until 2028, Verstappen has continuously expressed his loyalty to the team, where he has already secured multiple world championships including most recently at the 2024 Las Vegas GP.
At present, he earns around £50 million per season, meaning Aston Martin would have to dramatically increase that figure—potentially to £200 million per year—to have any chance of persuading him to make the switch.
Additionally, a stake in the team and the promise of building a team around him could make the offer more tempting and a key factor in the 63-time Grand Prix winner’s long-term decision will be Red Bull’s partnership with Ford, which is set to power their new engine development from 2026 onwards.
And the prospect of an offer as substantial as Aston Martin’s rumoured deal cannot be ignored, even if Verstappen responds with rejection for the moment. Newey’s move signals serious intentions, as does their state-of-art facilities and even acquiring Honda as an exclusive power unit provider from 2026.
That means Stroll‘s team has much of the same foundations that made Red Bull such a competitive force from 2021-2024, thus meaning it’s a much more familiar environment for Verstappen as opposed to somewhere new such as McLaren, Ferrari or Mercedes.
If Red Bull fails to maintain its competitive edge under the new regulations, he may be more open to considering other options with Mercedes talking to the 27-year-old throughout the 2024 season amid inter-team tensions for Horner.
