Present at the Monaco Grand Prix for his first appearance at an F1 race weekend as an Aston Martin employee, Adrian Newey has been speaking to reporters about Max Verstappen
Adrian Newey has told his Aston Martin team that signing Max Verstappen remains a “pipe dream”. The legendary Formula 1 designer believes the Dutchman would only be interested in leaving Red Bull for a team which can give him a championship-winning car.
Aston Martin have ambitions of being one of the front-runners but remain a long way off right now. That is why billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll leapt at the chance to sign Newey after he announced his plan to leave Red Bull last year.
Newey has been working almost exclusively on their 2026 car with the team clearly looking towards a brighter future. And speculation continues to persist that the story could include Verstappen as a major character, should the Dutchman decide to exercise his contract option to leave Red Bull early.
Working with both Newey and also engine suppliers Honda from 2026, there are plenty of reasons why Aston might be able to tempt Verstappen to join them. But, speaking to reporters at the Monaco Grand Prix, Newey made it clear he doesn’t expect it to happen soon.
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He said: “Max is clearly a phenomenal talent and a supreme competitor. Part of that means that Max likes to break things down to a single, common equation, and in this particular case, choosing the team that he believes will deliver the fastest car. So if we’re ever to attract Max, the first thing we have to do is make a fast car.”
Newey went on to say he has “absolutely no idea” whether Aston Martin will be able to provide such a machine in 2026, adding: “Max, as I said, is a phenomenal driver, phenomenal competitor. It’s just pipe dreaming about anything else from there.”
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Newey spent many years designing F1 cars for Verstappen to drive. And they enjoyed a remarkable amount of success together, with the designer’s fingerprints all over the cars the Dutchman drove as he won four-straight drivers’ titles over the last four seasons.
And while Verstappen is not the only remarkable talent Newey has worked with over the years, there are a couple who he said he regretted not having been an ally to. Lewis Hamilton remains someone the 66-year-old hasn’t yet worked with, but he has now ticked off the other by joining Aston Martin.
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Speaking about their double champion driver Fernando Alonso, Newey said: “He’s such a cool character. He’s been an enemy for many years, along with Lewis.
“I think I’ve said before that you can only work with so many drivers, but two drivers, in the relatively modern area, I felt I’d enjoy working with are Lewis and Fernando. I didn’t work with both, so at least I got one of them.”
