F1 Rumor: Saudis to buy Aston Martin team and pay Verstappen huge salary

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF is “on the verge of acquiring ownership” of billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin team and paying Max Verstappen a huge salary.

(GMM) The message out of the Aston Martin garage is clear – Adrian Newey is not going to rescue the struggling team’s 2025 season.

It has always been clear that the ambitious team is almost fully focused on 2026, with Newey having been at the drawing board for over a month now.

At the same time, however, Aston Martin is clearly surprised at just how uncompetitive the 2025 machine is, perhaps signalling the need for Newey to urgently intervene.

Team boss Andy Cowell said at Jeddah: “100 percent of Adrian’s design time is focused on 2026.

“He joined in March, there was an adaptation period with the regulations and the concept work we had done in the previous two months, and there were also deadlines to meet with the chassis and transmission,” he explained.

“The 2026 cars will be testing at the end of January, so to get the car ready, we have to bring forward the deadlines. And everything is new – nothing is inherited from these cars, so there is a lot of work, and Adrian is focused on that.”

Andy Cowell, Team Principal and Group CEO at Aston Martin F1 Team talks to the media (Photo by Zak Mauger/LAT Images for Aston Martin)

Fernando Alonso – yet to score even a single point this season so far – said a few days ago that as far as he knows, Newey has “no big ideas” about how to easily fix the 2025 car.

And now in Saudi Arabia, he backs Cowell’s news about Newey’s current focus.

“I think he’s working only on 2026,” said the Spaniard. “So if he’s deciding that, and I think ultimately it is his decision, then with his experience and knowledge I totally support that.”

Alonso played down rumors that Max Verstappen could be his teammate next year, but he said the speculation is proof that Aston Martin is regarded as a team of the future.

“I sometimes say we are not the team of the present, and that is what I would like to have, because in the future I don’t know if I will be behind the wheel,” said the two-time champion.

“But I do enjoy the process that we are in now and the building of this team of the future But I will do my best to help us achieve the best results as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, La Gazzetta dello Sport is reporting that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF is “on the verge of acquiring ownership” of billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s team.

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The reports says: The PIF Fund is buying the British team and is targeting the 4-time world champion from Red Bull: his salary would go from 50 to 88 million Euros per season (plus endorsements).

The strength of the “Public Investment Fund” (PIF), chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is well known in the world of sport. He brought Cristiano Ronaldo to Al Nassr, offering him 200 million to stay for the next two years, and boosted his Liv League golf by signing Jon Rahm, the number one on the green, to a 500 million contract. It’s no wonder he’s now willing to make golden bridges to four-time world champion Verstappen.

If the PIF buys the team, Lawrence Stroll would no longer have a say in his son driving for the team. The Saudis would replace Stroll with Verstappen in a heartbeat.