McLaren grilled on Max Verstappen as F1 2027 rumours enter overdrive

Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, has insisted that he has had “no conversations” with Max Verstappen over a potential move from Red Bull.

And he says McLaren is “very happy” with its current driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

McLaren boss Zak Brown: ‘No conversations’ with Max Verstappen

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Verstappen has been linked with a move away from Red Bull following the team’s challenging start to the F1 2026 season.

Although he is officially under contract until the end of 2028, it is widely understood that Verstappen’s deal contains a clause allowing him to leave the team for 2027 if he is lower than second in the drivers’ standings at the time of the summer break.

With just two races left before the summer break, it is mathematically impossible for seventh-placed Verstappen to catch George Russell, the driver currently occupying P2 in the championship.

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Russell sits 78 points ahead of Verstappen, who retired from last weekend’s British Grand Prix, with a maximum of 50 available from the next two races in Belgium and Hungary.

Mercedes has been heavily linked with a move for Verstappen over recent years, with Russell forced to wait until October to receive a new deal last year.

With Russell understood to be close to triggering an automatic contract extension for 2027, however, McLaren has emerged as a potential alternative destination.

McLaren announced the signing of Verstappen’s long-serving race engineer GianPiero Lambiase in April, with his move from Red Bull set to be completed ‘no later’ than 2028.

Rumours at last month’s Austrian Grand Prix claimed that McLaren had held talks with Verstappen’s representatives over a potential deal.

Appearing in a press conference at Silverstone last weekend, however, Brown insisted any suggestion of a move for Verstappen is mere speculation.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “They’re rumours. No conversations.

“I usually don’t talk about my dinners but last night I had dinner with Nigel Mansell, which was really cool. He’s won this race a bunch.

“I’m very happy with my two racing drivers, Lando and Oscar, and I think any time a name like Max is thrown around everyone gets pretty excited.

“[He is a] four-time world champion, but very happy with our driver line-up.”

Pressed on how serious talks got between Verstappen and McLaren, he insisted: “They didn’t go anywhere. I’ve got my two drivers, so there’s nothing to report.”

Asked if a move for Verstappen will not happen any time soon, he added: “Correct.”

Asked directly by PlanetF1.com what McLaren could offer Verstappen that Red Bull cannot, he replied: “I haven’t really thought about that because I’ve got two drivers in the seats.

“So what I couldn’t offer him was a seat in my race car.

“But I think McLaren’s an awesome team. So is Red Bull and so is Alpine and so is Ferrari. The Formula 1 teams are amazing.

“I think we’ve got a unique environment, but as do all race teams. But we’ve got a great race team that’s had a lot of success and I think it’s a good place to work, whether you’re a racing driver or a team principal or a mechanic or whatever you may be at Team McLaren.”

Meanwhile, Verstappen did not deny that his management had spoken to McLaren and whether a move to Woking would appeal to him.

Speaking on Thursday at Silverstone, he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I’m not going to involve myself in that. I’ve said what I wanted to say already before.

“If there’s something new or something that changes, you will hear it from me and not from someone else.

“I just focus on the job that I have with my team. We are on the way up, so that’s really nice to see.

“I had a really positive weekend in Austria and we just try to improve from there.

“I know, of course, it can be quite tough, there’s a lot of competition, but we’re here just to try and go fast.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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