McLaren boss Zak Brown responds to Max Verstappen rumors with a surprising comment
Over the past week, there have been surprising talks about Max Verstappen possibly moving to McLaren, and now Zac Brown, the CEO of the 2025 Formula One champions, has shared his thoughts on these rumors.
Max, the Dutch driver, showed great form at the recent Austrian Grand Prix, finishing second just behind George Russell, who won the race in his Mercedes. The World Championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, took third place, and McLaren also had a good weekend with Oscar Piastri finishing fourth.
For a while now, people have been wondering if Verstappen might leave Red Bull. Most thought he might join Mercedes if that happened. But recently, there were surprising stories about McLaren wanting to bring him on board. One report even said Verstappen and Piastri could swap teams.
However, Zac Brown made an interesting comment about these rumors during an interview with Sky Sports F1 at the Austrian Grand Prix. He joked, “If, for some strange reason, someone slipped on a banana peel getting out of the tub, then yeah, of course, Max is a four-time world champion.”
It’s been said that Verstappen has a break clause in his contract for 2027. This means he could leave if he’s not in the top two of the championship by the summer break, but if he did leave, his options might be limited.
Talking to Heart radio, Brown expressed how happy he is with McLaren’s current drivers. He said, “We’re a hot team. It’s a great place to be. We’ve got two awesome drivers in Lando and Oscar, so no plans to change the line-up. But it’s flattering that people are interested.
“The phone rings often, and he’s [Verstappen] a huge talent. We’ll see what the future brings, what he decides to do, but right now, we plan to keep going with what we have.”