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McLaren cannot afford to make the same mistake as before and let a talented young driver like Oscar Piastri walk away, even if it means they can sign Max Verstappen.
Reports emerged recently that Piastri could replace Verstappen at Red Bull should the four-time world champion decide to leave the team.
Given Piastri’s strong start to his F1 career, it isn’t surprising that Red Bull have taken an interest in the Australian driver, who is currently in his fourth season in Formula 1.
What are your thoughts on Red Bull’s interest in Oscar Piastri? 😳
Let us know in the comments below!
With Gianpiero Lambiase set to join McLaren in 2028, and his well-documented close relationship with Verstappen, there has been talk of the Dutch ace joining McLaren when he gets the chance.
For McLaren, the chance to land Max Verstappen would be an incredible coup. But they cannot let Oscar Piastri go in order to make that happen.
READ MORE: Helmut Marko’s Red Bull exit allowed Laurent Mekies to target Oscar Piastri
McLaren replacing Oscar Piastri with Max Verstappen would be a short-sighted move
It goes without saying that any team in Formula 1 would pounce on the opportunity to sign Max Verstappen. But for McLaren, this decision gets a lot trickier considering their driver pairing.
With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, McLaren boasts arguably the most prolific driver pairing on the grid, with almost no team being able to compete with them at the moment.
And with Piastri being just 25 years old at the time of writing, he has an incredibly bright future in the sport, and can help bring a lot of success to McLaren.
Should McLaren opt to land Verstappen by letting Piastri walk, it would set their team back massively for the future.
Max Verstappen turns 29 this year, while Lando Norris is 26 years old. They would presumably become teammates in this scenario in 2028, when both riders would be 31 and 28, respectively.
On the other hand, Piastri would be 27. That age gap might not seem like much, but when you consider that a driver’s prime is usually from the age of 26 to 32, it contextualises this decision a bit more.
McLaren cannot give up a driver entering his prime to sign an exceptionally talented driver who would just be exiting his own prime.
On top of that, McLaren have a history of letting prolific, young drivers walk just before their primes. Lewis Hamilton was 27 when he left McLaren, while Fernando Alonso was 26.
Especially with Hamilton, given how much success he experienced after leaving, McLaren surely missed out on keeping one of the greatest drivers of all time in their employ.
It wouldn’t make sense for McLaren to let Piastri, who has proven that he can compete for a championship, walk away for Max Verstappen, whose championship years could be behind him.
READ MORE: Zak Brown predicts Max Verstappen’s future F1 team as McLaren have ‘no intention’ to change line-up
Which McLaren driver will leave the team first?
Let us know your reasoning in the comments!
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen’s battles could derail the team seriously
Of course, Piastri leaving would just be one of the negative effects of this deal. On the other side of the coin, Verstappen may not get along very well with Lando Norris as his teammate.
We’ve seen Norris and Piastri’s title fight cause tension between the two drivers last season. Luckily for McLaren, tensions didn’t boil over between the two, leading to a split within the team.
But with Verstappen, who is a far more volatile personality than Piastri, McLaren might not be able to avoid this outcome.
Given how competitive both Norris and Verstappen are, they are bound to clash if they become teammates, and it could create a real headache for everyone on the team.
Landing Max Verstappen would be a huge get for any team. But McLaren might be the only team on the grid that can afford to let the Dutch ace slip through their fingers in the long run.
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