Last week, in its columns, the Daily Mail claimed that Jefferson Slack, sales and marketing director of Aston Martin, had made an offer of one billion dollars to Max Verstappen for his arrival in the Silverstone-based team at the horizon 2028! An assertion immediately denied, the team categorically denying any rapprochement with the quadruple world champion. But what rapprochement is in question? If it seems unlikely that the Dutchman will have a firm proposal, we can easily imagine that the firm is at least as interested as Mercedes in its medium-term future.
Why in fact have you invested in expensive hi-tech installations and gone to collect millions and shares in the team, the brilliant Adrian Newey – who will take up his duties at Silverstone on March 3 – to settle for a second knife? The star engineer's work won't be fully felt until the 2027 car, so that could be perfect timing for Verstappen. While his current contract runs until 2028, we know that there are performance-related exit clauses that could be activated if Milton Keynes were to fall into line, with the in-house power unit raising many questions.
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Max Verstappen, the natural replacement for Fernando Alonso ?
On paper at least, the Red Bull driver's entourage therefore has every interest in prevention rather than cure. A team ready to assume its global destiny from 2027/28, an engine manufacturer (Honda) in whom the Dutchman has complete confidence: on paper Aston Martin's arguments are admissible. Those of Mercedes are perhaps even more so, except that the contractual situation of the drivers is perhaps clearer at Silverstone. If Fernando Alonso continues to perform as he did in the heyday of his two world titles in 2005/06, he could well be caught up by his age.
-In mid-2026, he will be 45 years old (for reference, Juan Manuel Fangio holds the record for the oldest driver to win a world championship in 1957, at 46 years old, editor's note) and will inevitably ask himself the question of the sequel. “This will probably be my last season in F1 because my contract ends at the end of 2026”he declared in Abu Dhabi last year. “This will be the moment of truth. If the season goes well, there will be a possibility of racing one more year.”
As the Spaniard will not close the door prematurely, will the team be able to afford the luxury of waiting for him to make his choice for 2027? As Lawrence Stroll's seat is secured “ad vitam”, she should not be mistaken about the name of the person capable of carrying out her global aims. Obviously, there will be a handful to be free like Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Carlos Sainz or Lewis Hamilton, who alone would tick all the boxes. But can we imagine the seven-time world champion ending his career anywhere other than at Ferrari? For Aston Martin, the only truly viable solution is that of Max Verstappen. A billion-dollar solution which, let's be sure, will resurface at the slightest opportunity – or breaking news – over the next eighteen months.
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