Several personalities from the Formula 1 paddock doubt that Max Verstappen is seriously considering joining McLaren: he could mainly be using the rumors to put pressure on Red Bull.
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For several weeks, Verstappen has been regularly linked with McLaren for the 2027 season.
Some articles have even claimed that the four-time world champion is close to signing a three-year deal with the British team.
Piastri’s denial
A swap involving Oscar Piastri has also been mentioned. The Australian would leave McLaren to join Red Bull, while Verstappen would make the opposite move. Rumors have also claimed that Piastri is seeking to terminate his contract, which currently runs until 2028.
However, his manager Mark Webber has firmly denied these reports, calling them “nonsense.” The former Formula 1 driver assures that Piastri and McLaren remain committed together for the long term. Several observers also doubt Verstappen’s genuine intention to join McLaren. The refusal of his entourage to publicly deny these rumors could primarily be a strategy to keep Red Bull under pressure.
One theory suggests that the Verstappen camp is using McLaren’s supposed interest to obtain more guarantees from Red Bull, but also to push the team to give more importance to their driver’s demands.
The Verstappen camp wants to put pressure on Red Bull
Recently, several reports have suggested that Red Bull engineers have been listening less attentively to Verstappen’s technical feedback. While the team previously relied heavily on the Dutchman’s comments to set up the car, they now seem to trust their simulations more.
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The tensions were notably visible during the British Grand Prix. After a difficult qualifying, Verstappen wanted to start from the pit lane to modify the setup of his RB22 and install a new power unit.
However, Laurent Mekies refused this request. The Red Bull Racing team principal believed that starting from the grid offered better chances of a good result, a decision he defended after the race: “We still believed that it would give us a better result than starting from the pit lane with, perhaps, a better car. We discussed it with Max and I fully accept that he may have a different feeling, since he is the one driving the car.”
Mekies defends himself
Mekies nevertheless acknowledges that the difficulties anticipated after qualifying were indeed confirmed during the race: “In the end, we learned lessons: the car probably behaved similarly to what Max had felt in qualifying, so we encountered the limits we already knew.”
The Frenchman remains convinced that his team made the right decision: “I’m not entirely sure that we could have held third place on track before the failure if we had started from the pit lane.”
While Verstappen now has a clause potentially allowing him to leave Red Bull, speculation is expected to continue. But for some paddock observers, McLaren could mainly be a means of pressure allowing the Dutchman to strengthen his influence within his current team.
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