F1 paddock figures feel Max Verstappen is using McLaren after hearing what his entourage keep saying

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Numerous F1 paddock figures are not convinced that Red Bull racer Max Verstappen’s real aim is a move to McLaren for 2027, after hearing what his entourage keep saying.

Verstappen is often being linked with a move to McLaren for next year, in a move that would be expected to put Oscar Piastri on the market. Reports have even surfaced that suggest the four-time champion is already on the cusp of agreeing to join McLaren on a three-year deal.

The idea of a possible swap deal with McLaren’s Piastri replacing Verstappen at Red Bull has also been shared several times in recent weeks. There have even been reports that Piastri is looking to terminate his contract for McLaren, which is due to run through the 2028 season.

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Max Verstappen’s camp is using McLaren to put pressure on Red Bull

However, former F1 driver turned agent Mark Webber has slammed the “nonsense” claims that Piastri wants to leave McLaren, believing that the Australian and the papaya squad are both committed to each other for the “long term”. Some in the F1 paddock also doubt that Verstappen wants to go to McLaren and that he is using them to pile pressure on Red Bull.

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That is according to GPblog, which reports that Verstappen’s camp refusing to publicly deny the reports that he might join McLaren in 2027 is merely a play to make Red Bull feel under pressure. Why Verstappen and his camp would want to put pressure on his team is unclear.

One theory for why Verstappen’s camp is putting pressure on Red Bull is that by keeping the door open to move to McLaren, they can force the Milton Keynes crew to agree to give him even more concessions. It can also help force Red Bull to listen to Verstappen’s ideas more.

It has been reported lately that Red Bull’s engineers are not listening to Verstappen’s advice as much as the team did in the past. Previously, Red Bull relied heavily on the 28-year-old’s feedback for their set-ups, but they are now trusting their simulations more often than not.

Tensions even flared in the Red Bull garage at Silverstone last weekend after team principal Laurent Mekies rejected Verstappen’s request to start the British Grand Prix in the pit lane.

The Dutchman asked to be withdrawn from the grid, despite qualifying in P6, as he wanted to take a new engine and change his set-up to improve the balance of his RB22. Yet Mekies refused, and he believed Red Bull made the right call given Verstappen fought for a podium.

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While Verstappen spun out of P3 in the British GP because of an apparent issue with his rear wing not resetting quickly enough, Mekies noted via quotes by RacingNews365: “We knew it was not going to be pleasant to go with a very imperfect balance into the race.

“We still felt that it would give us a better result than starting from the pit lane with perhaps something better. Now, it’s something we have discussed with Max, and I completely accept that he may have a different feeling, and he’s driving the car. So that’s what it is.

“But at the end of the day, there were important learnings to his point. The car probably felt similar to what he had in qualifying, so we hit the limitations that we knew we had. And I’m not completely sure that we could have been P3 on the road before the failure happened if we had started from the pit lane.”