Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Anyone seen the rumour that Aston Martin are trying to lure Max away from Red Bull for 2027 with a $1bn pay check :cry:

The Daily Mail, oh please!

According to the Daily Mail, Aston Martin’s managing director of commercial and marketing Jefferson Slack has been wooing potential sponsors by claiming four-time F1 champ Verstappen is set to join the team.
The report claims Slack is ‘going around’ telling sponsors that ‘Max is going to be joining Aston Martin’ in a deal worth ‘£1billion’. That would make it the biggest in Formula 1, even bigger than Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.
Aston Martin strenuously denied the report, telling PlanetF1.com: “An Aston Martin Aramco spokesperson categorically denied the story.”
 
There were rumours that Doohan is only on a contract for 6-8 races. Either way it sounds like he's doomed before he's even started the season. Colapinto comes with quite a lot of sponsorship aswell.

He'll have to hit the ground running to stand any chance. Unfortunately for him, with limited testing it looks unlikely.

That came after Alpine executive director Flavio Briatore sidestepped a question from Le Parisien about whether Doohan is guaranteed a full season in the A525.
“The only thing we can be sure of is death!” he said. “We’ll start the year with Pierre and Jack, I can guarantee that. After that, we’ll see as the season progresses.

Source: PlanetF1
 
The Daily Mail, oh please!

According to the Daily Mail, Aston Martin’s managing director of commercial and marketing Jefferson Slack has been wooing potential sponsors by claiming four-time F1 champ Verstappen is set to join the team.
The report claims Slack is ‘going around’ telling sponsors that ‘Max is going to be joining Aston Martin’ in a deal worth ‘£1billion’. That would make it the biggest in Formula 1, even bigger than Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.
Aston Martin strenuously denied the report, telling PlanetF1.com: “An Aston Martin Aramco spokesperson categorically denied the story.”
I have never been so insulted! :)

I actually saw it on The Race's YT channel:

But yeah, there's no substance to it, although I would believe a marketing type to spin that lie.
 
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I have never been so insulted! :)

I actually saw it on The Race's YT channel:

But yeah, there's no substance to it, although I would believe a marketing type to spin that lie.

There's so much nonsense circulating around the internet nowadays written by people who do little to no research, or worse just make **** up.
 
With new regs, new wind tunnel online, Adrian Newey's first Aston design, Honda engines etc... in 2026, Aston Martin could be the place to be in 2027.

It doesn't seem very likely to me. Newey is very talented, but he's not magic, and Aston seem to have an awful lot of churn. I think it's more likely that Aston will fail to fully utilise the talents of the grab bag of talented individuals they're throwing together than that they'll deliver and whilst Honda are no slouches, I don't think they're likely to be giving Aston a major advantage - especially as Aston are their only customers. As we saw in the start of the hybrid era, a lack of testing mileage across teams is a significant disadvantage in the early years.

Presumably he wants to win though, regardless of pay check?

Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of Aston, it's clear than Laurence is a master of persuading people that it is the place to be. I think Max could well be lured across. I don't believe the $1bn claims though. It'd be a very weird place for him to be, with Lance sitting in the other car as the Chosen One.
 
With new regs, new wind tunnel online, Adrian Newey's first Aston design, Honda engines etc... in 2026, Aston Martin could be the place to be in 2027.
RB should have their new wind tunnel next year, which is probably half the battle as they've struggled with correlation. Impressive that their car is competitive given the testing limitations so I can't see them being too far behind with the new regs.
 
It doesn't seem very likely to me. Newey is very talented, but he's not magic, and Aston seem to have an awful lot of churn. I think it's more likely that Aston will fail to fully utilise the talents of the grab bag of talented individuals they're throwing together than that they'll deliver and whilst Honda are no slouches, I don't think they're likely to be giving Aston a major advantage - especially as Aston are their only customers. As we saw in the start of the hybrid era, a lack of testing mileage across teams is a significant disadvantage in the early years.

Honda won't be at the same disadvantage as last time, plus Dennis pulled them in one year early which didn't do them any favours.
You're quite right, a lot of talented people don't always make a great team, the Dutch Football squad has been a great example of this fact over years.
 
RB should have their new wind tunnel next year, which is probably half the battle as they've struggled with correlation. Impressive that their car is competitive given the testing limitations so I can't see them being too far behind with the new regs.

Red Bull's current wind tunnel was the best in the world at one point, the trouble is that it is over 70 years old and only operates accurately between 5 and 25 degrees Celsius which is an issue during the winter and summer months.
 
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