Aston Martin boss Andy Cowell has denied a report that the team could make a bid to sign George Russell should the Mercedes driver become available in Formula 1.
Russell’s prospects have become a principal talking point since his bombshell admission last month that Mercedes is engaged in ongoing talks with Max Verstappen.
The German marque has two vacancies approaching 2026 as Russell and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli do not have contracts in place past the current campaign.
Unlike 12 months ago, Verstappen has not given a guarantee that he will remain at Red Bull as speculation continues to mount that he might be heading to Mercedes.
Regardless, Russell is convinced that he will still be on the grid in 2026, though he insisted that he has not been in contact with other teams to sound out alternatives.
But while there has been a claim that Aston Martin is monitoring the situation with intrigue, Cowell vowed that there are no plans to disband the side’s existing line-up.
Cowell highlighted how continuing with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be integral to the British marque hitting the ground running once the rules reset in 2026.
When asked about the report linking Russell to Aston Martin, Cowell told media including Motorsport Week: “We’re super fortunate. We’ve got this exciting run into ’26.
“Canging the power unit – we’re working with Honda on that – changing the aerodynamics, we’ve got Adrian [Newey] working on that, we’ve got new facilities.
“But the stability that we’ve got in having Lance and Fernando signed up for next year means that they’re not only helping us now develop the tools that we’re using for ’26, ’27 and beyond, but they’re working directly on the concept of the car.
“The discussions in the wind tunnel are about the aerodynamic shape, but they’re also about driver environment.
“How much space is there in the cockpit? Adrian tends not to leave much space in the cockpit. Everything’s exceptionally tight.
“But that stability of having two drivers signed up through into ’26 is really helping us.”
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