Max Verstappen's F1 future takes unexpected turn after Belgian Grand Prix

Verstappen verklaart felle 'laptop'-boardradio: 'We zijn hier niet voor de lol" — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen's F1 future takes unexpected turn after Belgian Grand Prix

Unthinkable scenario for Max

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Tuesday 21 July 2026 18:44

Make us your Google favorite

Where will Max Verstappen go? It's the F1 story of the summer and it's not going away and that's because this is an unusual scenario.

In short, the best driver in F1 is available for any team to sign and drive their car for 2027 and yet at the same time, the four-time world champion doesn't seem to have many options.

The not so unusual aspect of this is about 60 per cent of the teams on the grid from a starting point have about as much chance of offering the Dutchman a chance of winning a world championship as they do the author of this article, whose racing experience consists of playing F1 games and Gran Turismo on the PlayStation as well as beating his mates in karting that time at Ryehouse.

Article continues under video

Zilch basically. And you can take Ferrari off that list too as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc look well settled for another year at Maranello.

This leaves Verstappen's options being Mercedes, and even now that looks less likely with chief Toto Wolff leaning towards another year of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, and McLaren.

Can Verstappen join McLaren?

Now Zak Brown will tell you that Verstappen will not be joining McLaren and that there is about as much chance as it happening for 2027 as there is McLaren signing the author of this article (he probably wouldn't say the second bit, but did I tell you I beat my mates in karting at Ryehouse, once?)

Brown's comments though always in the present and what I mean by that is that he leaves it open for future developments in 2026. The McLaren chief really wants Verstappen but knows this can only happen if he can jettison Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri, both of whom have contracts for next year and both of whom have actually served the team well. For now this doesn't seem likely.

So this isn't a straightforward move for Verstappen either. Perhaps more importantly from a McLaren perspective is are they actually any better than Red Bull?

This tends to swing from one race to the next and even from that you can draw a conclusion that McLaren are not far in front of Red Bull if at all. It does suggest that if Verstappen were to bulldoze his way into McLaren, right now it would appear more of a sideways move.

Max Verstappen is edited to stand wearing a McLaren racesuit

Pos	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	204
2	Lewis Hamilton	Scuderia Ferrari HP	159
3	George Russell	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	154
4	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari HP	126
5	Lando Norris	McLaren Mastercard F1 Team	103
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mastercard F1 Team	92
7	Max Verstappen	Oracle Red Bull Racing	91

For 2027, only the teams will know how good their car could be. You can maybe make an argument that having already signed top Red Bull talent in Will Courtenay and Rob Marshall, as well as Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for 2028, McLaren are in better shape to get 2027 right.

Red Bull have been haemorrhaging key figures in recent years and according to former team boss Christian Horner are only now seeing the team's real level since his sacking. He said: "Things usually take probably close to nine to 12 months to see change, so everything that happened last year, if I’d have been knocked over by a bus (and not replaced), it would have played out the same way.

The case for Verstappen to stay at Red Bull

New Red Bull chief Laurent Mekies suggests otherwise saying he has young and talented people ready to take Red Bull to the next level. He of course would say that, but it's not us he's got to convince, it's Max Verstappen so he would see through that straight away if there was no substance in it.

The Belgian Grand Prix was the penultimate race before the summer break, with Hungary to follow this weekend. In Spa though, Verstappen was clear of the McLaren's, finishing third while Oscar Piastri was down in fifth.

As a caveat, the Australian was carrying car damage, while Lando Norris in seventh had an unfortunate grid penalty, as well as a poor pitstop where his left rear wheel got stuck.

Laurent Mekies may have done enough to convince Max Verstappen to stay at Red Bull

So McLaren could have done better, and that's before you factor in how much quicker they would have gone if Verstappen was in the car. But speed isn't the only factor here in deciding what team to move to. It's a big chunk there are other considerations.

Who will be a driver's team-mate? will the car be designed that favours a driver style? Will the driver gel with the team's staff? Will the driver even be a good fit at the team.

The best answer we can say for Verstappen for most of the above when it comes to McLaren is, 'maybe'. But for Red Bull all the answers are 'yes'. Now when you examine speed, McLaren are not showing enough of an advantage and in more brutal terms are not challenging for wins.

As Verstappen nears towards having a chance to trigger his contract clause to leave the team before 2028 because of poor championship position, the unthinkable scenario of that he is already at the best team he can race for appears to be becoming more real.

F1 HEADLINES: FIA announce late Belgian GP Ferrari punishment as Hamilton regrets 'unlucky' penalty

F1 Silly Season 2026: Verstappen, Mercedes and every driver move

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen McLaren