McLaren responds to worst-case Red Bull scenario as Verstappen rumours hit overdrive

Andrea Stella says he has “enough to do at McLaren” without worrying about what Red Bull should do as it faces the prospect of losing star driver Max Verstappen.

It comes after PlanetF1.com reported last week that McLaren is in advanced talks with Verstappen over a potential move to Woking for the F1 2027 season.

McLaren boss has ‘enough to do’ without worrying about Red Bull

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Red Bull’s challenging start to the season has left Verstappen seventh in the drivers’ standings after nine races.

Although he is officially under contract until the end of 2028, it is understood that a performance clause in Verstappen’s contract will allow him to leave the team if he is lower than second in the championship at the summer break.

Verstappen trails George Russell, the driver currently occupying second place, by 78 points with a maximum of 50 available before the August shutdown, meaning his exit clause is set to come into play.

PlanetF1.com reported last week that Verstappen is in the closing stages of a deal to take him to McLaren.

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It comes just months after McLaren secured the signing of Verstappen’s long-serving race engineer GianPiero Lambiase, who will work directly under Stella in the role of chief racing officer when he arrives ‘no later’ than 2028.

Following last weekend’s British Grand Prix, Stella was asked what he would do if he were in the shoes of Red Bull team principal Mekies as he faces the possibility of losing Verstappen.

The McLaren boss responded by stressing that he already has enough to focus on at McLaren without thinking about the state of play at rival teams.

He added that Mekies, who was appointed as Christian Horner’s successor last year after spells with the FIA, Ferrari and Racing Bulls, is “very capable” of orchestrating a Red Bull resurgence in the second half of the season.

Asked how he would handle the challenges facing Mekies, Stella told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “Do you mean if I were Laurent?

“Well, you know what? I have enough to do at McLaren to gain half a second in the shortest amount of time.

“We don’t have to forget that we haven’t had a good start to the season from a reliability point of view either – and this goes in the power unit area, but it also goes in the chassis area.

“Still today, from an operational point of view, I’m here saying that we should stop Oscar [Piastri] one lap earlier and we would have saved some race time.

“So I think, as Andrea Stella, there’s enough to do at McLaren to think [about] what Laurent should do.

“Laurent is very capable, very intelligent, very competent.

“So I’m sure he will do everything that is necessary and McLaren and Red Bull hopefully will be able to join Mercedes and Ferrari and we can have an even more exciting Formula 1 in the second part of the season.”

Stella’s comments come after Verstappen leapt to the defence of Mekies after the British Grand Prix.

The Silverstone event saw Horner return to the paddock for the first time since he was replaced by Mekies in July last year.

Asked about the impact Mekies has had at Red Bull since his appointment, Verstappen told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “Everyone is trying their best.

“I’m not blaming one person or whatever. It’s just painful for everyone that this is happening.”

Asked to name his biggest challenge since arriving at Red Bull, Mekies told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets at the recent Austrian Grand Prix: “I think if I have to pinpoint one thing – it’s not a challenge, it’s the outstanding aspect of having been there for a year – [it] has been the amazing people we have.

“Every day you get into deep conversations with our people, chassis side, PU side and just the quality of the team is so high and goes so deep into the ranks that it’s probably the standout feeling for me after a year.

“And challenges, we’ve got all sorts of challenges.

“We have been in the incredible position to be in a title fight last year, at the point where nobody expected us to be able to be in the title fight, and then we didn’t have the time to digest the fact that we were missing these final two points, that we had to start that other race to get our first PU with Red Bull Ford Powertrains over the line.

“So, it’s been pretty much an intense 12 months, but the dominating feeling is really what an amazing group of talents in Milton Keynes and what a privilege to be with them.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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