Max Verstappen F1 transfer saga can drive superstar into the arms of McLaren

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Bahrain, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Max Verstappen transfer saga can drive F1 superstar into the arms of McLaren

Silly season could be especially daft this year

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Thursday 19 February 2026 09:13

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A former F1 chief has tipped any Max Verstappen team move to trigger a chain reaction of moves across the sport.

Specifically, former Williams boss Claire Williams warned that if the four-time world champion goes to Mercedes – as looked like an outside possibility last year – it would mean the end of George Russell's time with the Silver Arrows.

That, in turn, would hurl a huge free agent onto the market in the T-posing shape of the current Mercedes wheelman, with teams racing to snap him up.

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Williams backed Russell for one particular seat – not at her former team, but with the squad who won the drivers' and constructors' titles just a couple of months ago in Abu Dhabi.

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Williams: Russell is McLaren-esque

Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, the long-time F1 exec said: “Can you imagine Max and George in the same team? George would not hang around; it is George’s team, isn’t it?

“I think George would be great in a McLaren, Oscar and Lando are brilliant in the McLaren, but if there was a seat, I could see George as a real McLaren-esque driver. I don’t know why, I just do.”

Asked to clarify what a 'McLaren-esque drive' is, she explained: “A very cerebral, professional, buttoned-up, all-rounded, thoughtful, very British.”

The team's Kiwi founder Bruce McLaren would probably be rolling in his grave at the last part of that characterisation, while his fellow antipodean Oscar Piastri will be...not rolling in his grave (on account of not being either dead or a vampire/goth), but maybe looking over his shoulder at an accelerated pace. After all, there are only two race seats at any given team, and he's the one there who isn't British.

Y'know. If American CEO Zak Brown and Italian team principal Andrea Stella care about that sort of thing (they don't).