Williams boss, James Vowles doesn't believe that Max Verstappen would be a good fit for his former team.

His comments come at a time the four-time world champion is being linked with a number of teams as Red Bull gradually slips down the order.

Toto Wolff famously let the Dutchman slip through his fingers once before, and despite the Austrian's denials that he is still considering making a move the speculation persists.

However, Vowles, former chief strategist at Mercedes, and at one time seen as Wolff's successor, does not believe the Dutchman would fit in at Brackley.

"I think there is more performance to be added through Max," he told reporters in Jeddah." I don't think anyone in the room would deny that he is extraordinary in what he can do, and Japan was, for me, jaw-dropping.

"Well done to him but he comes with a lot of downsides as well that we have to acknowledge and I think what Mercedes does have is a great culture with two drivers that are delivering near to the peak of the car, and with one that's on the way up. So I personally don't think that's a place for him."

Asked if he could envisage the Dutchman partnering George Russell while Kimi Antonelli honed his skills at another team for a season or two, the Williams boss said: "I don't think so, I think they're two very different characters.

"I'm not Toto," he continued, "but I think he's got a really good driver line-up for the future. I think with Kimi, and I'm biased because I worked with him for a long period of time, if you just look at the steps he is making in qualifying, he's making steps every single week and he's only driven effectively four grand prix races.

"He's on a good pathway to being very, very competitive, so you keep investing in that, and George is delivering. You can't really fault him. I mean, he's been a bit quiet, but you can't really fault anything he's done this year."

Meanwhile, at Aston Martin, another former Mercedes man (they're everywhere!) played down talk of Verstappen joining his team.

"We're incredibly fortunate that we've got two incredibly experienced drivers signed for the next two years, and that means I can just focus on trying to help improve the business and the art of making a fast race car," said Andy Cowell when asked about speculation linking the team with Verstappen.

Pushed to actually deny that Aston Martin was interested in Verstappen, Cowell continued to avoid directly confronting the question.

"I'm saying that my head is full of improving the company so that we can make a fast race car for Lance and Fernando," he said.

At Red Bull, Christian Horner, when asked about the "noise" surrounding his driver, replied: "I think noise is exactly the right word to describe it. There's been a lot of noise outside of the team, inside the team, I think Max again reaffirmed his commitment yesterday.

"We're focused on making the car go faster," he added, "that's where our focus is, and Max is part of that. He's a committed member of the team and the rest is all speculation and hearsay."

Check out our Friday gallery from Jeddah here.