Max Verstappen to McLaren is not dead with 'door wide open' for F1 transfer

Max Verstappen to McLaren would be the biggest driver move in F1 since Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari, and it is by no means dead.

Red Bull nation breathed a massive collective sigh of relief in late August when Verstappen announced that he had signed a new contract extension which, in theory, ties him to the Salzburg/Milton Keynes team through 2030.

We do not of course know the finer details of that contract, there may be exit clauses, and of course any contract can be broken. It just needs the desire to do it, and likely a lot of money. Verstappen's new deal is reportedly worth around $100million per year.

The 28-year-old Verstappen did explore his options outside Red Bull before committing his future, with Mercedes and McLaren the preferred landing spots.

One thing we do know is that the Dutchman did hold talks with McLaren CEO Zak Brown, and those talks were serious.

Brown has now gone back in to stir the pot further by leaving the door very much open for a future transfer.

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'The door is still wide open for Max' - Zak Brown

“The door is still wide open for Max. For 2028, 2029, or whatever year it may be. I enjoyed getting to know him better and I would love to work with him someday,” he told respected Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.

Brown clearly came away from those Verstappen talks even more impressed by the four-time world champion, and his desire to one day sign him was only enhanced.

“The conversations were more exploratory, simply to get to know each other better. Because you never know what the future holds.

"But I became much more impressed than I expected to be, particularly with him as an individual. I thought to myself: I could really go racing with this guy. Because I hate racing against him.”

Verstappen a 'charming' man says Zak

Brown, who maintains he is happy with his current driver lineup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, continued: “I spoke to Max a few times last summer. Simply because I wanted to get to know him better.

"If I could use just one word to describe him now, it would be a word that would never have occurred to me before those conversations.

"That word is: charming. I bet nobody who doesn’t know him well would describe him that way. But I’m genuinely very impressed by him. He’s a pure racer.”

Verstappen focus brings Alonso comparison

Brown also compared Verstappen very favourably with one of his own former McLaren stars - two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. He believes the pair have a similar focus and drive to optimise everything they do.

“His focus and the way he looks at motorsport, from a driver’s perspective, really impressed me.

"You can see that in how involved Max is with the GT3 programme and how technically proficient he is. Fernando was the same.

"I remember when we did the Indy 500 with him. We were on the plane and I ordered a glass of wine. Fernando was just staring at his screen. Do you know what he was watching?

"Onboard footage from a previous edition of the Indy 500, all 200 laps of it. That must be the most boring thing imaginable. But Fernando didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”

Verstappen's new deal, and why McLaren move could still happen

Verstappen appeared to have killed any McLaren talk stone dead when he signed that massive contract extension in late August - it reportedly pays him an annual base salary of $107million. But not so fast.

There are two factors to consider here - Red Bull's ability to deliver a race-winning/championship-challenging car, and money.

Verstappen has been steadfast in his view that he wants to stay with Red Bull for the rest of his career, IF they can help him challenging for victories and titles. That has not happened on a regular basis in 2026, if it does not in 27 then expect the rumour mill to pick up again.

The other potential blocker is finance, but again it is absolutely surmountable. F1 has never been as strong commercially and McLaren's latest financial results are expected to show revenues for 2025 of $779million. Well on course to be the first team to generate $1billion.

Viewed through that prism, this all likely comes back to Red Bull and their car in 2027. If it delivers we have status quo, if it does not the transfer speculation begins all over again.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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