As fresh rumours link Max Verstappen to Aston Martin in a £1 billion deal, Adrian Newey reportedly told his new team that “even the best racehorse needs the best rider”.

Not for the first time, Verstappen is being linked to a move away from Red Bull with Aston Martin reportedly wanting to sign the Dutchman and reunite him with Newey – the guru who designed every one of Verstappen’s title-winning Red Bull cars.

Is a Max Verstappen and Adrian Newey reunion on the cards?

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’.

Aston Martin have strenuously denied the report, telling PlanetF1.com: “An Aston Martin Aramco spokesperson categorically denied the story.”

That has done little to silence the rumour mill with design legend Newey’s name now being brought into the conversation.

According to F1-Insider, the design legend, who starts work at the Silverstone team in early March, is said to have told Aston Martin: “Even the best racehorse needs the best rider.”

For the last four years that’s been Verstappen with the 27-year-old racing to four consecutive World titles, all in Newey-designed machinery.

Although Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull that runs through to the end of the 2028 season, his Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted to PlanetF1.com last year that the contract contains a “performance element” potentially allowing him to leave the team before 2028 if Red Bull cannot provide a competitive car.

It has been speculated that the driver will be free to trigger an exit clause if he is lower than third in the standings after completing a “significant” part of the F1 2025 season.

But for now, his camp has yet to receive any offer – never mind one worth a billion dollars, from Aston Martin or anyone else.

“It would be nice, but we haven’t received that offer yet,” his camp said of the rumoured offer.

Red Bull aren’t worried about losing their star driver for the F1 2026 championship, or even in the years that follow.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told Sport Bild: “That’s all well and good, but Max has a contract with us until the end of 2028.

“I don’t comment on the content of the contract, but in any case we are confident that we can provide Max with a good car.

“Our engineers have made good progress with the data. We are optimistic.”