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David Coulthard has ruled out a future move for Max Verstappen to McLaren, citing one of the British constructor’s biggest assets of their day-to-day operations as something the Dutchman would hate.
The four-time world champion’s future at Red Bull has been in the spotlight for over 12 months now, after his restlessness in Milton Keynes emerged in the midst of the 2025 F1 season.
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Even with them being the leading constructor in the F1 standings at the time of writing, Mercedes’ interest in Verstappen has not subsided. Toto Wolff has reportedly tabled an offer to Verstappen, which, according to Ralf Schumacher, was financially ‘so bad’.
Of course, with someone of Verstappen’s talent and status on the market, he is not short of suitors. Due to the confirmation of Gianpiero Lambiase’s future move to McLaren, he has also been linked with a switch to the reigning world champions.
Lambiase will join Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay as recent transfers of blue for orange, which has given McLaren more of an ‘advantage’ in talks of a switch for Verstappen. However, David Coulthard has deemed the move highly unlikely.
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In a recent interview with the print edition of Sport Bild, former F1 star David Coulthard played down the chances of Verstappen finding greener grass elsewhere as he assessed how viable it would be for the Dutchman to change teams.
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With Formula 1’s top four teams already fielding very competitive driver line-ups, it remains to be seen whether they would want to upset their own individual equilibrium to cater for such a big figure entering their ranks.
“Max should actually always have a market, because he is the best driver on the grid,” Coulthard began, with quotes via RacingNews365. “But the situation is complicated. Due to the many sponsors, McLaren regularly needs access to its drivers. That does not suit Max.”
Interestingly, it is understood that one of the main reasons why Zak Brown is open to a move for Verstappen is due to his attractiveness in the eyes of sponsors.
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The McLaren CEO is renowned for his prowess in the conference room, and a four-time world champion at the table would certainly aid his cause.
All in all, Coulthard remains on the fence regarding whether Verstappen will end up taking the plunge and plying his trade elsewhere. After being asked if he can see a move happening, the 13-time Grand Prix winner replied, “Only he knows that.
“But with Max, anything is possible. He only drives for fun now. Maybe he’ll take a year off, maybe he’ll keep driving.”
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