Verstappen and Alonso to swap teams? Something’s going on in F1…

Just prior to writing this month’s column, the idea of Max Verstappen considering a move to Aston Martin for 2026 was just one of those theoretical ‘it has a logic to it’ sort of abstract ideas. But a few days ago came the first external suggestion that this was indeed under discussion.

That still doesn’t mean it’s definitely true or even if it is that it’s definitely happening. But there is a sense of inevitability about it, one just underlined by the recent (self) appointment of Andy Cowell as team principal as well as his position as CEO.

Aston, with Adrian Newey about to join to sit alongside Cowell at the incredible new factory, with Honda working as its exclusive power unit partner, with Lawrence Stroll maintaining his ‘whatever it takes’ mentality while throwing multiple millions at the project, is set to be a superteam.

Verstappen’s existing berth at Red Bull is already that, of course. But he’s been there a decade now – his entire Formula 1 career – if we include his initial spell in the junior team. The regulation re-set of 2026 challenges Red Bull’s previous aerodynamics mastery just as surely as Newey’s departure. Red Bull’s loss of Honda and the team becoming its own power unit manufacturer places further pointed questions around its prospects. Then there’s the whole stress of the dynamics between the Verstappens and team boss Christian Horner, initiated a year ago in the aftermath of the controversy around a team employee. As we outlined last month, Max has been the glue which has kept the team functional even as father Jos was making that unity difficult, but can the relationship ever be what it was?

So with the obvious emergence of a new superpower on the one hand and questions about the prospects of the existing one on the other, next year would be the perfect time for Verstappen to make the switch. It’s entirely feasible that he could continue his title-winning record into a new team while barely breaking stride. It would represent a fantastic challenge – far greater than simply repeating what he’s already done with Red Bull.

“Something seems to be going on between Aston Martin and Red Bull”

He’s already several times made the point that the first title was the important one, because that was the goal from day one, the dream he and his father shared when he began as a kid. All the others have been nice, he says, but they don’t really add to the achievement of becoming a world champion. They are simply repetitions, a nice indulgence.

But a move to an underachieving team and being part of its transformation into a world-beater? That, surely, would have meaning, even for him? It’s similar to how Michael Schumacher was thinking when he left the team he’d just won two world titles with to take on the challenge of making the drastically underachieving Ferrari a great team once again.

There are (or at least were) potential barriers to Max’s move happening, however. Even assuming both sides want it to. Verstappen’s Red Bull contract runs to the end of 2028. Fernando Alonso’s Aston contract runs to the end of ’26 – and the other Aston seat is occupied by Lance Stroll. So how would Max a) extricate himself from where he is and b) find space at Aston?

Well, firstly, contracts are only ever a starting point of negotiation in F1. Secondly, Horner spent a couple of hours in the Aston motorhome during the Abu Dhabi season finale. Why would he have been doing that? Negotiating about allowing Newey to begin at Aston earlier than the agreed March 1 date? We’re already mid-January and he’s not yet started, so perhaps it wasn’t that. Maybe it was about the ex-Honda personnel based at Red Bull being released to go back to Honda for the Aston project? But what if it was about hammering out the terms of letting Max go two years early – and taking in exchange Alonso?

If Horner is resigned to losing Verstappen regardless, he could at least minimise his losses with a financial package plus the services of Alonso. And who knows, maybe the ’26 Red Bull will be a rocket ship. That’s not such a ridiculous prospect regardless of all the aforementioned reasons why it might not be. One year, at least, of Alonso will give the team time to assess its other options within or outside the Red Bull stable of drivers while still having a megastar in at least one of its cars.

Something seems to be going on between Aston Martin and Red Bull and there are sources suggesting that Verstappen is part of that something. Given that Lance Stroll is not about to move from his father’s team at just the time Newey and the heavy guns have arrived – and that Alonso’s contract is therefore a potential barrier to Max joining – so a financial settlement from Aston to both Alonso and Red Bull would be needed if this were all to slot into place. But Alonso would surely want more than just financial compensation for such an arrangement. Why would he surrender the chance of driving the Newey Aston? Well, a Red Bull drive might be a start, might it not?

The above is just wild speculation. But most of the blockbuster stories in F1 begin by leaking out in this

Paddock talk

“There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today is one of those days”

Lewis Hamilton is a happy man, taking to social media on his first day at Ferrari

“Generally people say that after their first child drivers will drive three tenths slower”

Helmut Marko reacts to news that Max Verstappen and Kelly Piquet are expecting their first child

“We definitely won the world championship for the most updates in 2024, but those updates didn’t deliver the lap time”

New Aston Martin F1 chief Andy Cowell damns with faint praise his team’s 2024 efforts

“The only certain thing is death. We start the year with Pierre and Jack, I guarantee it. After that, we’ll see”

Alpine executive director Flavio Briatore piles the pressure on Jack Doohan – who he also manages! – before a wheel has turned on his F1 career. New team reserve Franco Colapinto waits in the wings