Max Verstappen is not a realistic target for Aston Martin, it's George Russell 

Max Verstappen is not a realistic target for Aston Martin, it's George Russell! If recent reports are to be believed, then the Dutch driver has been in conversation with the Silverstone-based team after the dip in form suffered by Red Bull. To add to this, there are even suggestions that Lawrence Stroll has possibly won the sweepstakes when it comes to securing Adrian Newey's services.

It does appear that Adrian Newey's next destination could be Aston Martin and to an extent, the decision makes sense. This is one squad that has truly made it a point to try and put together all the pieces that are necessary to win titles. It started with getting star drivers in Sebastian Vettel, for 2021 and 2022, and Fernando Alonso. It has continued to hire some amazing engineers, with Enrico Cardille being the most recent acquisition.

This is a team that's on the rise and it's desperate for success. When that is the case, it could lure a Verstappen to the team. Having said that, for 2026, it seems highly unlikely that this team can lure someone like the Dutchman. There is, however, a talent in the form of Russell who could be having second thoughts when it comes to his future with his current team.

If one takes all the facts into consideration, Russell might be a more realistic choice for Aston Martin.

Why Max Verstappen is not a logical choice

When it comes to Max Verstappen, if the driver is on the market, every team will go after him. However, it does appear that a Verstappen-Aston Martin marriage looks highly unlikely.

Max Verstappen is not going to be a part of a 'project'

Max Verstappen has made it explicitly clear that his approach to his F1 career is not to build a team from scratch. He wants to be in the fastest car at all times, and if a team cannot do that, then he would think about making a move.

This is precisely the reason why Red Bull could potentially lose the services of the driver, as the team is currently struggling to keep up the development of the car. Aston Martin, at least in its current edition, is a project at best where it is trying to find the right pieces that mesh together.

For a driver like Verstappen, the prospect of a team clicking is not enough to sway him, and he's not going to take a call based on that.

Aston Martin is still a team without a proven pedigree

The biggest problem for Aston Martin right now is that the positives are beginning to dry out. This is not a team that is showing an ability to grow incrementally. In fact, it is showing an alarming prospect of regression, which is never a good thing.

Aston Martin took a forward leap in early 2023 when it became a team that would score podiums with regularity. The mid-season slump of 2023 has seen the team fall into a rut that it has not recovered from. While there are certainly positives associated with this squad and there are suggestions that this team might be a force to reckon with in the future, it's hard to pinpoint when they find that silver bullet, and for now, it seems far away.

Having Lance Stroll in the team shows a lack of ruthlessness

The biggest limitation for luring Max Verstappen to the team is the fact that the driver knows what it takes to win in F1. He knows that every small unit of the team has to be optimized, and that includes the second driver. Sure, Red Bull has Sergio Perez, and that might give detractors reason to think that Verstappen doesn't care about teammates, but he would be the first to acknowledge the role Perez played in the 2021 F1 title battle.

A driver like Lance Stroll, who has no business being in a top F1 team, is a major red flag for anyone looking to join Aston Martin. It does not appear that Lawrence Stroll would at any point want to replace his son with a different driver, and that might dissuade someone like a Max Verstappen from joining the team.

Why George Russell would make sense

With Max Verstappen not the most likely to move to Aston Martin, there is another option that Lawrence might be willing to go for. George Russell might just be the driver that fits the bill perfectly, and he might be interested in a move away from Mercedes.

He's getting overlooked at Mercedes

The biggest reason has to be that it appears George Russell continues to get overlooked by Mercedes. The season started with all the chat being around Lewis Hamilton and how he was leaving the team. Then it was all about Max Verstappen, with Toto Wolff continuing to try and lure the Dutch driver away from Red Bull.

Finally, when all of this appears to have settled, Wolff has apparently already set his sights on Kimi Antonelli being the next big superstar for Mercedes. During all this time, the driver who was supposed to be Hamilton's successor and has been driving brilliantly since he joined the team has continued to get overlooked.

Russell has not been viewed as or regarded as the next leader at Mercedes, which is unfortunate because his performances merit that. When that is the case, could we see him starting to look around, especially with the team not backing him to the fullest? It's not out of the question.

He's one of the elite

Something that's so often ignored is that George Russell still continues to be one of the elite drivers in F1. He's fast, he's consistent, and he has cut down a lot on his mistakes. The driver could easily be a three-time race winner this season if he didn't have reliability issues at Silverstone or the disqualification at Spa.

He's easily one of the elite talents in F1 and has more often than not shown that he can deliver when the car is in the right performance window.

He might be interested in working on a project around him

Finally, the biggest difference in preferences between Max Verstappen and George Russell is the fact that the British driver might be more open to having a project built around him. He'd love to build a team around him, and Aston Martin will give him that opportunity.

Hence, while Verstappen might not be too interested in making the move to Aston Martin, there's Russell, who might be more than willing to make such a move.