Zak Brown isn’t in the business of feeding other people’s silly season fantasies, but he also knows how to keep a storyline alive.
With Max Verstappen’s long-term race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase now signed to McLaren for a move no later than 2028, the obvious leap has been that Verstappen might one day follow. Brown’s response has been to slam the door on that theory — while, pointedly, leaving another one wide open.
Asked about Verstappen potentially teaming up with Lambiase in Woking, Brown’s message was clear: McLaren isn’t shopping. Not when it’s got what he describes as the “greatest driver pairing on and off the track” in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both tied down on long-term deals.
“From a McLaren point of view, I couldn’t be happier with Lando and Oscar,” Brown said. “We have long-term agreements with them… So we have no intention of replacing any of our two superstars.”
That’s as close as you’ll get to a public cease-and-desist in a sport where everyone keeps an eye on everyone else’s contracts, clauses and moods. Brown did concede that if one of his current drivers were to depart — a scenario he stressed he isn’t expecting — Verstappen would naturally be “a huge talent” to consider. But the broader point was unmistakable: McLaren aren’t positioning themselves as Verstappen’s escape hatch.
Instead, Brown gently redirected the spotlight toward Brackley.
“If I had to bet, I’d say to Mercedes,” he said, when asked where Verstappen might go.
It’s not exactly a random punt. Three rounds into the 2026 season, Mercedes have been the benchmark of the new regulations, sweeping every pole position and grand prix win available so far. In the paddock, momentum talks, and Mercedes’ early stranglehold on the new era is the kind of performance that makes rival team bosses glance nervously at their own driver contracts — and at other people’s.
For Verstappen, those external narratives have started swirling again because the internal picture at Red Bull has been uneasy. The Dutchman has publicly hinted that his enjoyment of Formula 1 has been dented in the new ruleset, even floating the idea that he could walk away from the sport. Red Bull’s start to 2026 has been difficult, and Verstappen finds himself down in ninth in the standings after three races, having scored just 12 points.
That’s not the profile of a reigning superstar cruising through the opening stint of a fresh technical cycle. It’s the profile that gets the entire ecosystem twitching — sponsors, engineers, rivals, and yes, team bosses who know that a driver of Verstappen’s calibre doesn’t tend to hang around in the midfield if there’s a viable alternative.
Complicating everything is the contract situation. Verstappen is signed through the end of 2028, but it’s understood that deal contains a performance-related exit clause. In other words: the paperwork might look watertight, yet the reality may hinge on where Red Bull are relative to the front as this season unfolds.
Then there’s Lambiase.
McLaren’s decision to bring in Verstappen’s long-time race engineer is a statement signing in its own right — not just because of the relationship between driver and engineer, but because of what Lambiase represents: a calm, authoritative operator who has been central to Red Bull’s most successful years. Naturally, once that announcement landed, the sport did what it always does: connect the dots, whether or not they’re supposed to be connected.
Brown’s pushback is interesting because it isn’t simply protective of Norris and Piastri — it’s also protective of McLaren’s internal equilibrium. Throw Verstappen into any team and you aren’t just adding lap time; you’re importing gravity. Everything bends around him: the political dynamics, the development priorities, the messaging. McLaren have spent years building a stable structure around two elite drivers who are fast, commercially strong, and — crucially — workable together. Brown’s not going to casually invite chaos just because the internet wants a blockbuster.
There’s also the matter of timing. Lambiase’s expected arrival is no later than 2028. Verstappen’s contract runs to the same point. That symmetry will keep fuelling rumours regardless of how many times McLaren dismiss them. But Brown’s comments suggest McLaren see Lambiase as an investment in the team’s broader technical and operational strength, not as bait on a hook.
Meanwhile, Mercedes sits there as the obvious “if not Red Bull, then who?” answer — especially in a season where they’ve started the new era with a clean sweep of the biggest prizes. Brown didn’t need to say anything more than the name. Everyone in the paddock understands what that implies.
Whether Verstappen is actually on the move is another question entirely. The noise around his future has been amplified by frustration — his with the regulations, Red Bull’s with their form — but we’re only three rounds into 2026. Clauses don’t trigger themselves; teams recover; and drivers’ moods, even Verstappen’s, can shift quickly when a car takes a step.
Still, Brown has done what the best operators do. He’s defended his own camp, praised his current line-up, and nudged the speculation somewhere else — toward the one team that, right now, looks like it has both the performance and the platform to tempt the biggest name on the grid.
