Verstappen a ‘Pipe Dream’ Until Aston Build a Better Car, Says Newey

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands speaks during the drivers' press conference at the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 22 May 2025. (EPA)
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands speaks during the drivers' press conference at the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 22 May 2025. (EPA)
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Verstappen a ‘Pipe Dream’ Until Aston Build a Better Car, Says Newey

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands speaks during the drivers' press conference at the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 22 May 2025. (EPA)
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands speaks during the drivers' press conference at the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 22 May 2025. (EPA)

Aston Martin's chances of signing Max Verstappen will be a "pipe dream" until they have a car good enough for Red Bull's four-times world champion, according to the team's design great Adrian Newey.

Newey, whose cars have won multiple Formula One championships for three teams, joined Aston from Red Bull in March with speculation Verstappen might eventually link up with him again.

Verstappen has won two of seven races this season and is third overall behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris while Aston Martin are seventh in the standings and far from the podium places.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso, now 43, has yet to score.

In Monaco to attend a race for the first time since his move, Newey was asked the inevitable questions about Verstappen's future.

"Max is clearly a phenomenal talent, and he's a supreme competitor and part of that means that Max likes to break things down to a simple common equation," he told reporters.

"And that is, in this particular case, choosing the team that he believes will deliver the fastest car. So if we're to ever attract Max, the first thing we have to do is make a fast car.

"It's a pipe dream about anything else from there."

The Briton said it had been easy to settle into his new surroundings and, while focused on next year's car, had spent time assessing how the team worked and the strengths and weaknesses.

He singled out the driver-in-the-loop simulator as requiring a lot of work, while the new wind tunnel was arguably the best in Formula One.

"It (the simulator) is not correlating (to the track) at all at the moment, which is a fundamental research tool and not having that is a limitation," added Newey, who said fixing the simulator would probably take two years.

Newey said Aston Martin, whose state-of-the-art Silverstone factory is on the old Jordan team site, had good people but needed them to settle down and work better together after a period of expansion.

The designer said the 2026 rule change, the start of a new era for Formula One, offered "a reasonable amount of flexibility" and expected a range of different solutions.

He said he was working at the factory "pretty much full-on".

"My wife, she kind of says I go into a design trance," he explained.

"When I get into this sort of period of intense concentration, I tend to not see left and right, all my processing power is going into the one area which is trying to design a fast racing car."



Lando Norris Wins, Nico Hulkenberg Makes History at British GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025.  EPA/PETER POWELL .
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025. EPA/PETER POWELL .
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Lando Norris Wins, Nico Hulkenberg Makes History at British GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025.  EPA/PETER POWELL .
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025. EPA/PETER POWELL .

McLaren's Lando Norris won his first British Grand Prix -- his home-country event -- in a race that had no shortage of twists and turns.

Beginning under dry skies that soon turned rainy at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England, the race also saw Germany's Nico Hulkenberg finish third. For the 37-year-old Kick Sauber driver, it was his first podium in 239 Formula One starts.

And the second-place finisher, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, put himself in great position when he passed polesitter Max Verstappen of Red Bull, but that all changed when Piastri was penalized 10 seconds for coming out of a safety car restart too slowly.

And for Brit Lewis Hamilton, the defending champion, it was a fourth-place finish at his home grand prix. It marked his first finish off the podium after 12 consecutive podiums at the event, with his late push falling short, Reuters reported.

Verstappen finished fifth, falling out of the top three following a spin off the course.

Norris won in one hour, 37 minutes and 15.735 seconds, finishing 6.812 seconds ahead of his Australian McLaren teammate.

Hulkenberg held off Hamilton by just over five seconds.

As expected, two of the top three finishers were overjoyed in their post-match comments -- with one not so much.

"It is beautiful. Apart from a championship, this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings," Norris said of the win in England. "Incredible race, stressful as always but the support from the fans made the difference so I have to thank them.

"The main thing is don't it up, that is rule number one. It might never happen again. Hope it does, but these are memories I'll have forever."

Hulkenberg was equally jubilant, especially since he started 19th on the grid.
"It's been a long time coming hasn't it?! What a race, coming from virtually last. ... Crazy conditions, survival mode all race. We were really on it, no mistakes," he said.

"Today, I was in denial until the last pit stop and then I heard we gapped Lewis so I thought OK, breathing space but then he was closing. The pressure was there, intense race but we didn't crack."

Piastri declined to go into details after the penalty, which he served at a pit.
"I'm not going to say much, I'll get myself in trouble," he said. "Congrats to Nico, that's the story.

"Apparently you can't brake behind the safety car anymore. I had done it for five laps before but I'm not going to say more, I'm going to get myself in trouble. I still like Silverstone even if I don't like it today."