Max Verstappen to Aston Martin rumours have re-emerged this week, although the Dutchman’s heart is still with Red Bull.

Verstappen recently re-iterated his desire to see out his F1 career with Red Bull, if possible, meaning it’ll be particularly interesting to see how well the Milton Keynes-based squad adjusts to the new ruleset next season.

Is an Aston Martin/Max Verstappen partnership that hard to believe?

According to a report in the UK’s Daily Mail, Aston Martin has been attempting to win sponsors over as marketing commercial director Jefferson Slack has been alleged to be telling potential sponsors that Verstappen is arriving at Aston Martin.

Aston Martin “categorically denied” the story, while the Verstappen camp’s brief comment on the matter was “That’s nice”, according to Dutch publication GPBlog.

But while the official line is denial that Slack is telling potential investors into the team that Verstappen is coming, the rumours about the possibility haven’t gone away ever since last year’s speculation that team owner Lawrence Stroll has targeted Verstappen to join his team.

Given the high-profile signings Stroll’s squad has secured over the last 12 months, including Honda and Adrian Newey, is it really that far-fetched to think Verstappen could join the Silverstone-based squad?

Oliver Harden: Even Adrian Newey could be powerless to stop Mercedes in F1 2026

It is a romantic idea, Max Verstappen reuniting with Adrian Newey and Honda and conquering the world once again, only this time in green rather than blue.

Previously, the only question mark hanging over Aston Martin’s long-term potential was whether they could fully utilise the relationship with Honda and overcome any potential communication and cultural hurdles.

The signing of Newey guarantees that they will. Expect Aston Martin-Honda to be more Red Bull-Honda than the McLaren-Honda shambles of 2015-17.

Yet there is one problem: even with Newey on their side, Aston Martin could still be powerless to stop Mercedes dominating under the 2026 rules.

For some time now there have been whispers that Mercedes’ preparations for F1’s new era are more advanced than most – certainly more so than the all-new RBPT-Ford alliance and a Honda effectively returning to the sport after some years away.

A period of dominance reminiscent of 2014 – Mercedes winning nearly every race, customer teams like Alpine and Williams leaping up the competitive order and suddenly competing for regular podiums – is not unrealistic.

After his success over recent years, Verstappen is unlikely to have any interest in building a team up again and access to instant performance will be the priority of any move away from Red Bull.

A switch to Aston Martin, appealing though it may be, risks leaving him in the same situation he found at Red Bull between 2017-20: often the biggest threat to Mercedes, but not quite close enough to maintain a serious challenge.

That’s why Mercedes remain the clear favourites to sign Verstappen.

Thomas Maher: F1 2026 the line in the sand for Max Verstappen’s future

I think it’s impossible for Verstappen not to be somewhat interested in seeing how Aston Martin fares over the next season or two.

On paper, the Silverstone-based team has all the ingredients – a high-profile team boss who showed consistently strong management skills while at Mercedes HPP, a Honda engine which Verstappen has achieved all of his title success with, and brand-new facilities at the team’s factory.

Enrico Cardile proved his mettle at Ferrari in recent years and, of course, the prospect of reuniting with Adrian Newey must be intriguing for Verstappen.

I believe 2026 is the line in the sand. While Aston Martin has pulled all these individually great ingredients together, this is a team that is still pushing for its first grand prix win in its current guise, let alone a championship push.

Red Bull’s battle readiness came to its aid in 2024, but McLaren showed that it is possible to bring the fight to them even without that complete readiness. Aston Martin will take confidence from this.

The big question mark focuses on the engine – there’s no guarantee Red Bull Powertrains will nail highly complex engine regulations at the first time of asking.

However, the same can be said of Honda – the Japanese manufacturer’s first hybrid power units were weak and unreliable, and it was by working with Red Bull that those fragilities ebbed away.

Should Red Bull prove competitive in 2026, I believe Verstappen will stay at Milton Keynes.

If Red Bull is obviously not in the hunt, or Aston Martin show clear improvement with the new regulations, he’ll be beating down Stroll’s door.

Aston Martin may have Alonso and Stroll under contract for the next two seasons but, with Alonso’s F1 career end in sight, there’s no reason to believe he would be a priority to keep on board – especially given the promise of a long-term post-F1 link between brand and driver.

If Red Bull in 2026 doesn’t perform, I suspect we will have a Verstappen and Lance Stroll partnership at Aston Martin in 2027.

Michelle Foster: Max Verstappen will stay with Red Bull til the end

Max Verstappen to Aston Martin? Lawrence Stroll wishes!

Despite Red Bull’s 2024 troubles, of which many played out off of the track, Verstappen showed himself to be a person who is loyal. And in today’s world, that’s an admirable characteristic.

I cannot see him swapping Red Bull for Aston Martin any more than he would swap his four-time championship-winning team for Mercedes, Ferrari or any other F1 team. When Max is done with Red Bull, he’ll also be done with Formula 1.

He entered Formula 1 with Red Bull’s backing, racing for the team’s junior outfit before they promoted him to a Red Bull seat and he won on debut.

Last year Mercedes entered the conversation as Toto Wolff publicly courted Verstappen, however, even he recently admitted it was never a possibility with Verstappen making it clear to the Mercedes team boss that he was happy with Red Bull. Comments he reiterated to the media.

“I like what I do and as long as I enjoy it I will stay here and continue driving in F1,” he said. “If I want to go elsewhere, I will go elsewhere. But at the moment it is not in my head.”

If anything, if Verstappen leaves Red Bull it will be to leave Formula 1, not to join a rival team.

He’s made it abundantly clear that he’s not here for a long time, he’s here for a good time.

And when the good times end, so too with Max’s F1 career.

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