Patrese: Every Formula 1 team would like to have Verstappen

Riccardo Patrese is the latest in a line of F1 race winners and champions, including Jacques Villeneuve, Johnny Herbert and Juan Pablo Montoya, to offer advice to Verstappen as he contemplates a future with any team he wants to race for.

Top of the list must be Mercedes and Aston Martin, with Toto Wolff and Lawrence Stroll open about their desire to lure the four-time F1 World Champion to their teams. Should Verstappen decide to leave Red Bull, which is not a given just yet, what’s the best option?

Regarding Verstappen’s future, six-time Grand Prix winner Patrese said: "What he should do, I don't know. It's difficult because sometimes I didn't know what to do. You know, sliding doors in my life, I had some opportunities that, if I went in another direction, maybe I would have had chances to fight for the championship. And I chose a different thing, so in the end it didn't work out the right way.

"We are talking about Verstappen, so I don't know what he should do either, because technically I think at the moment, who knows what is the best power unit? And so if I have to choose the man, I choose Adrian Newey. I worked with him, and I know how good he is at putting together a new programme."

Patrese delved into the prospect of Verstappen reuniting with Newey at Aston Martin, the design guru having created the four cars that took the Dutchman to his titles: "First of all, he's fantastic at aerodynamics. When he was at Williams, he came because he was a specialist in aerodynamics. And then he had the possibility to work with Patrick Head, and the two together made the Williams of those years.

"Now he's able to manage all the programmes for a Formula 1 car. That is a big difference from 40 years ago, because maybe the team was under 100 people. Now you have maybe 2,000 people in a Formula 1 team that you form in groups of engineers, so you need to be able to put everything together.

"Adrian has an eye. He goes around the paddock, the boxes, and he can see the small details of the other cars to find a good solution for his car. But of course, he is the best anyway at finding this kind of solution himself."

On Verstappen potentially departing Red Bull for Lawrence Stroll’s F1 team, Patrese said: "When you talk about where Verstappen could go, sure, he has a very good connection with Adrian, and money at Aston Martin is not a problem.

"In the end, it could be a solution if he wants to leave Red Bull. But for sure, he has more news about the engines, because in the end, also the power units next year are going to be different, and reliability could be a problem, and so on."

"Maybe he stay there at Red Bull and look at what happens in the first year of this new car. At any moment, I think he can find a place, because at the moment, every F1 team would like to have Verstappen," declared the 71-year-old Italian motorsport veteran.

This season, it has become clear that only Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris can stop Verstappen from winning a fifth F1 title. But the McLaren drivers have clashed and could provide their nemesis with a sniff of the Championship, which is not his to win, but certainly is a title Zak Brown’s boys could grenade away, as the same team did in 2007 when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso self-destructed.

Patrese sees the McLaren civil war as an opportunity for Verstappen, should Red Bull provide him the tools: "It’s a big problem for McLaren. It's crazy, yes, because the problem is that if they let them be free to race, then it’ll happen again, what happened in Canada last weekend. Norris made a big mistake and crashed.

"It's very dangerous because there is always Verstappen in there. If for any reason Red Bull finds more improvements in the car, Verstappen is there and can really give them a lot of trouble. Let’s say that Red Bull, for some reason, finds an upgrade that works. Verstappen is very dangerous then," warned Patrese.

Ahead of Round 11 this Sunday in Austria, Verstappen is P3 in the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Standings, trailing both McLaren drivers. He is 43 points behind leader Oscar Piastri, and 21 down on Lando Norris in P2.