How absurd Verstappen to Aston Martin ‘scoop’ is complete nonsense

Max Verstappen is not the type to scour the media to read what is being said and written about him. What others think, he couldn't care less. Racing, performing as well as possible, and working with his team to improve; that's where Verstappen's focus is.

Yet, he will never completely miss what appears in the media, in a world of social media and in a paddock that thrives on rumors. Perhaps the four-time world champion has also heard about a story that popped up last week in the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport.

The Italian sports newspaper reported that Aston Martin had made a concrete offer of 264 million euros to Verstappen, to come to the British team for the next three seasons. Verstappen's salary would be paid by the Saudi state fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), which would take full immediate ownership of Aston Martin's F1 team.

It sounded like a highly unlikely rumor, and as it turns out, not true at all. GPblog inquired about the story and heard from a very reliable source that it is ‘total nonsense’. There has been no contact with Verstappen's camp.

There is also no talk of a takeover of the majority of the shares of the Aston Martin F1 Team. Aston Martin Lagonda is about to sell its minority stake of 74 million pounds in the Formula 1 team as part of a plan to increase the liquidity of the car manufacturer.

But Aston Martin has no further plans to sell shares beyond that announcement. In other words, Lawrence Stroll remains ‘simply’ the majority shareholder of the British team.