Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, silly season rumours and F1 reality

Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, McLaren, Red Bull, Spanish GP, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, silly season rumours and F1 reality

The F1 rumour mill is in overdrive

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Tuesday 7 July 2026 21:42

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F1 stars Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen are no strangers to the drama of silly season, but this year has seen the duo sit at the centre of driver swap rumours.

Despite both being contracted to their respective McLaren and Red Bull teams until the end of 2028, the F1 rumour mill has been working overtime as reports of a potential team swap spread.

Following the 2026 British Grand Prix where Verstappen crashed out and Piastri finished outside the points way down in P11, Grande Premio reported that the Aussie F1 star wants out of McLaren.

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This then sparked conversation yet again over Piastri's potential exit clearing the path for the papaya squad to snap up a four-time champion in the form of Verstappen, who is growing increasingly unhappy with the package the energy drink giants are delivering for him.

So, as word spreads that the Dutchman is considering activating his own exit clause, let's take a look at what's really going on and whether a driver swap between the two rivals could really be on the cards.

F1 HEADLINES: Verstappen exit clause active as Horner breaks silence

Will Piastri and Verstappen swap F1 seats?

The report from Grande Premio posted after the race weekend in Silverstone stated: "Dissatisfied with McLaren, Oscar Piastri wants to leave the team at the end of 2026...If this happens, it will open up the possibility of a straightforward swap, with the Australian moving to Red Bull and Max Verstappen taking his place at McLaren alongside Lando Norris."

But the reality is that Verstappen has plenty of time to weigh up his options and allow Laurent Mekies and the Milton Keynes-based squad to show they are capable of turning their chances around for 2026 and beyond.

Initial reports suggested Verstappen's performance-based exit clause would allow him to leave if he wasn't in the top two of the drivers' standings by the summer break. However, rumours have emerged that the clause can be triggered from then until October, meaning he holds all the cards as things stand.

Red Bull principal Mekies laughed off suggestions Verstappen could leave the team in recent weeks, reiterating at the Austrian GP: "I'm not asking Max every week if he's going to stay...Max has made clear to us that he wants to continue with the team. It's equally clear that he needs a fast car for him to be happy with the team."

Are McLaren really interested in Verstappen?

Zak Brown insists McLaren are happy with their F1 lineup and Oscar Piastri isn't going anywhere.

The door appears to have closed for Verstappen to make the move to Mercedes once again, leaving McLaren as the most competitive team that could remain an option in the future given Ferrari are content with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown didn't deny his interest in signing the 28-year-old to the papaya F1 ranks when speaking to media ahead of the British GP, but he did make it abundantly clear that Verstappen would only become an option if one of his drivers were to leave (and they don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon).

In Friday's FIA press conference at Silverstone, Brown faced the cameras and was asked to provide detail about the talks that had reportedly taken place between McLaren, Verstappen, and the Dutchman's management.

"They’re rumours? No conversations," he insisted.

"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. Four-time World Champion, but very happy with our driver line-up."

Brown was then asked to clarify that should a move happen one day, it wasn't going to be soon, to which the CEO simply replied: "Correct."

Piastri confident he is going nowhere

Now, this may all just come across as two team principals doing their best to smooth over tensions and talks of a driver exit, but even Piastri himself confirmed McLaren are happy with him and even with the threat of Verstappen knocking on the door, he is confident he isn't going anywhere.

“I've got a contract in place, multiple reassurances that the team are very happy with me and I'm very happy with the team," said the 25-year-old heading into the Silverstone weekend.

"For me, I'm very happy where I am and very happy with the situation I'm in. Just trying to continue the success that we've had in the last few years."

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen McLaren Oscar Piastri Zak Brown