Häkkinen questions Max Verstappen to McLaren reports: ‘Why rock the boat?’
Max Verstappen has been linked with McLaren, but it would mean deposing one of its current drivers.
Mika Häkkinen has questioned why McLaren would make a move for Max Verstappen or any other driver at this time, asking “why rock the boat?” when the team already has two high-performing drivers.
Multiple reports have linked the four-time world champion with the team, with McLaren having also secured the services of Verstappen’s longtime race engineer, GianPiero Lambiase, in time for the 2028 season.
Mika Häkkinen questions Max Verstappen McLaren links
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Verstappen’s future has reared its head as a topic of discussion as, despite his contract with Red Bull running until 2028, his being outside the top two in the Drivers’ standings at the summer break stage has been widely reported to allow him to explore his options elsewhere.
Despite Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both holding contracts beyond this season, McLaren has been reported to have emerged as the potential favoured destination for the Dutch driver, should he decide to cut ties with Red Bull.
For Häkkinen, who won both his titles as a McLaren driver in a long-standing partnership with David Coulthard, he does not see the logic in potentially upsetting the apple cart at the team, if it chooses to make such a change.
“It’s very interesting, you know,” Häkkinen told the Up to Speed podcast, opposite Coulthard.
“It’s not only Max out there. Of course, there are many other drivers, but [when] I have seen how McLaren operates, they want to really look at the overall team package, all the time.
“That’s the only way to achieve success, is to build incredible team spirit power inside, and you try to sometimes, in my opinion, if you would ask me what I would do, I would like to minimise that risk. That way you lose this kind of team spirit.
“If the team has two great drivers, why rock the boat? And of course, McLaren having a world champion. And look, we [he and Coulthard] were the longest teammates in Formula 1. We were the longest teammates, and that indicates that if there’s a good harmony inside in a team, why have somebody else?
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“I rate Lando and Oscar. Extremely talented racing drivers, very professional racing drivers, not too emotional racing drivers, in my opinion.
“So, that is good to operate with the drivers like that, because they’re very consistent. They’re very consistent indeed. They’ve been only a few years together in a team, and Oscar is still not so experienced, in my opinion. So, it requires time.”
Verstappen himself has previously described Red Bull as being like a “second family” to him, having been with the team through its junior ranks.
His manager, Raymond Vermeulen, added he would “like to see [his contract] through” with Red Bull, though the four-time world champion has yet to publicly commit to Red Bull for next year when asked about his future.
“I don’t want to go say yes and no, and this and that about my future,” he said ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.
“I said already many times that if there was something new, I would say it myself.”
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