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Max Verstappen is reportedly close to agreeing a deal with McLaren for 2027 and beyond. Money would not be a problem for the Woking outfit, thanks to their Bahraini owners.
The Dutchman’s exit clause at Red Bull will become active during the summer break as he will not be in the top two of the championship by then. His management are assessing his options for 2027, and the situation in Milton Keynes is tense.
Verstappen was furious with the team after he retired from the British GP, lamenting the car as he suffered another rear wing failure. Reports have now been swirling that he could be leaving Red Bull, with McLaren eyeing a deal for the four-time champion.
If you were Zak Brown, would you sign Max Verstappen or keep Oscar Piastri?
Money is not a problem for McLaren in their pursuit of Max Verstappen thanks to Bahraini ownership
Rumours have suggested that Mark Mateschitz wants to cut ties with Verstappen as he refuses to commit to Red Bull for 2027. He is keeping his options open, and McLaren hold a strong interest in him.
Zak Brown has repeatedly said that he is happy with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, with these reports, the latter would be vacating his seat for Verstappen in a likely swap deal.
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McLaren are in a good position to land a deal for the Dutchman thanks to their majority shareholders – Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat. As Bianca Garloff notes via F1-Insider, they would have no issues paying for Verstappen’s salary.
She said: “Well, I reckon Oscar Piastri would give up his seat voluntarily if he got an offer from Red Bull, or rather, if there were a free seat at Red Bull, just as Max Verstappen would then be happy to take Oscar Piastri’s seat – so for me, that’s more of a formality. That has to be clear, though.
“You hear from behind the scenes that the Bahraini family – or rather, the Bahraini government – own the majority stake in McLaren, and that they want to ensure everything is properly sorted out and that contracts are honoured, but I don’t think there’s anything standing in the way of a driver swap, so to speak.
If you were Max Verstappen, would you stay at Red Bull or move on?
Verstappen has been linked with McLaren, but could also retire or take a sabbatical
“You also hear that money isn’t really the problem at McLaren. Thanks to various sponsors – Google and the like – who are on the McLaren cars, and thanks to this Bahraini sovereign wealth fund, there’s certainly enough money available.
“Yes, so I think that it could well work out and perhaps even be finalised relatively quickly, depending on how quickly they sort out all these little hurdles with the driver swap and the championship.”
McLaren’s Bahraini owners ‘really’ want Max Verstappen
Piastri and Verstappen both have exit clauses in their contracts, but McLaren’s Bahrain owners want those contracts to be honoured. Both drivers’ deals expire in 2028, suggesting that they want to keep the Aussie on board.
However, as Garloff adds, Mumtalakat ‘really’ want Verstappen, thus putting pressure on Brown to get a deal done, despite his desire to keep his current drivers.
The only thing I’m wondering a bit about is how that’ll turn out. We know, of course, that Lando Norris is Zak Brown’s absolute favourite. I also think Lando Norris can’t quite keep up with Verstappen’s speed.
That means Zak Brown is sort of throwing Lando to the lions – Verstappen, that is – but what I’m hearing is that he’s got no choice, because the Bahrainis really, really want Verstappen.
So in the end, the owners, well, you can’t just say, ‘No, I’m not doing it that way,’ and ultimately success trumps everything, and Lando Norris has his world championship title. In that respect, I don’t think it’s all that relevant either.
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