Mercedes could actually stop McLaren signing Max Verstappen and there’s zero they can do for years

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Mercedes could actually prevent McLaren from signing Max Verstappen without lifting a single finger, according to a fresh report.

While the Silver Arrows have been linked with potentially signing Max Verstappen for over 12 months now, McLaren have recently emerged as the front-runners for the Dutchman’s signature.

The reigning world champions have pulled off quite the coup at Red Bull in recent years, with Gianpiero Lambiase’s future move to Woking, set for 2028, initially fuelling the rumours of a possible switch of Verstappen.

If the British constructor is successful in their pursuit of the four-time world champion, it would be a sore blow for Mercedes chief Toto Wolff, who has been infatuated with Verstappen’s talents since before he had even tested an F1 car.

However, according to renowned F1 journalist Ralf Bach, McLaren’s status as a customer of Mercedes’ engines could actually prevent Verstappen from signing on the dotted line. It is allegedly a big “concern” for the Red Bull ace as he continues to weigh up his options.

• READ MORE: Max Verstappen would risk enduring even more frustration if he leaves Red Bull for McLaren in 2027

Max Verstappen is concerned about McLaren’s status as an engine customer

McLaren’s difficult start to their title defence this year was defined by their engine partnership with the German manufacturers. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were absent from the Chinese Grand Prix due to battery issues.

The same issue affected the Briton in Monaco, too, and it does not fill Verstappen with confidence, according to Bach. Speaking via the F1-Insider podcast, he said, “With Verstappen, there’s a bit of concern that McLaren uses a customer engine from Mercedes.

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“That means the hardware – everything supplied in terms of mechanical components – is the same, but you can still make a difference with the software.

“It was no coincidence that, at the start of the year, McLaren bitterly complained that their engine was different from Mercedes’s, but by that they don’t mean the hardware. Rather, how you manage it, how you charge the batteries and so on.

“It may well be that Mercedes did everything within the rules, but didn’t go any further than they had to in terms of information.

“That could well make the difference in how you configure the software and so on. It’s also a matter of experience, and these are the sort of concerns that are on Verstappen’s mind.”

• READ MORE: Mercedes chairman went over Toto Wolff’s head to strike McLaren deal that he was set against

For the majority of Verstappen’s tenure at Red Bull, he has enjoyed the benefits of being at a fully-fledged works F1 outfit. Honda and Red Bull worked seamlessly together before Red Bull took the plunge and decided to develop their own engines in-house.

A similar sort of move has been touted for McLaren, too. However, for now, the British constructor is locked into a deal with Mercedes that will see McLaren’s efforts in F1 be powered by the Silver Arrows’ engines until 2030 at the very least.