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Adrian Newey, the renowned F1 design guru, has poured cold water on the idea of Max Verstappen jumping ship to Aston Martin anytime soon, insisting that the team must first prove they can build a championship-contending car.

After leaving Red Bull amidst a flurry of interest from top teams including Ferrari, Newey committed his future to Aston Martin in September 2024 and took up the role of managing technical partner at the Silverstone outfit in March with the clear goal of steering them to title glory.

The 66-year-old genius is making his first appearance in the Monaco paddock since his high-profile move and has been candid about the reality of attracting talents like four-time champion Verstappen, stating that such drivers won't consider a switch until the team's performance is up to scratch.

"Max is clearly a phenomenal talent and he's a supreme competitor," Newey said. "So if we're to ever attract Max, the first thing we have to do is make a fast car.

"There's no point in pipe-dreaming about anything else for now."

When quizzed about the timeline for this ambitious project, Newey confessed: "I've got absolutely no idea."

The motorsport world has been abuzz with speculation over Verstappen's future at Red Bull, especially after Helmut Marko expressed significant concern following the Bahrain Grand Prix in April about the possibility of the Dutchman departing before his contract ends in 2028.

Racing veterans Fernando Alonso, aged 43, and Lance Stroll, son of Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll, currently makeup the team's driver roster.

Newey, the esteemed Formula One engineer, praised Stroll, saying: "Lance I think has an unfairly bad rap,

"Any driver who gets to Formula One is clearly very good but I think Lance is much better than people give him credit for.

"Fernando is such a good character. He's been an enemy for many years, along with Lewis (Hamilton)."

"Two drivers I've always, from the modern era, felt I would enjoy working with were Lewis and Fernando and I couldn't work with both so at least I got one of them."

Currently engrossed in designing the 2026 car under new regulations, Newey admitted to being completely absorbed in his work since March.

He described his intense focus, as noted by his wife: "My wife says I go into a design trance and I can understand what she means, that when I get into this sort of period of intense concentration I tend to not see left and right.

"All my processing power is going into one area which is trying to work with everyone to design a fast racing car."

Aston Martin are currently languishing in seventh place in the constructors' standings, trailing behind teams such as Williams and Haas, highlighting the challenge that lies ahead for Newey in transforming them into title contenders.

However, he has expressed optimism about the potential within his new team.

"There's a lot of individually very good people. We just need to try to get them working together perhaps in a slightly better organised way," Newey stated.

"I think that's simply a result of the roots of the team being Jordan that became Force India, that became Racing Point.

"As such it was always a small but slightly overperforming team, to now in a very short space of time a very big team that in truth has been underperforming this year."