Zak Brown rows back on Verstappen-to-Mercedes talk — and sounds the alarm at McLaren
Zak Brown has done a neat U‑turn on one of the summer’s favorite paddock predictions. The McLaren Racing CEO had openly floated the idea that Max Verstappen would walk into Mercedes at season’s end. Now? “That’s not going to happen,” he told De Telegraaf, adding that Verstappen’s future “is no longer a topic of discussion.”
Hard to argue given the Dutchman’s late-season surge. With three wins in the last four rounds, Verstappen has slashed Oscar Piastri’s championship lead to 40 points. Five grands prix and two sprints remain. McLaren already has the Constructors’ title sewn up, but the Drivers’ crown has turned from an internal squabble into an active threat from the No. 1 car in red and blue.
Brown, who’s never been shy about calling the market as he sees it, now finds himself dealing with a version of Verstappen he rates as the most complete yet. “Max seems to be better than ever at the moment,” he said, noting the comfort level between driver and team, and the way Red Bull has hauled itself back into the fight. “We take him very seriously in the title race. It would be very foolish not to.”
That’s a different tune to mid‑year, when Verstappen’s name was loudly linked to an exit from a struggling Red Bull. Instead, he reaffirmed his commitment by the end of that month, and the form followed. Four straight world titles already banked, he’s now pushing for a fifth — the kind of streak that tends to bend even confident title campaigns out of shape.
For his part, Verstappen batted away the “best-ever” tag when Sky put it to him in Mexico. He wasn’t buying the idea that he’s found extra tenths. “I don’t think I suddenly drive faster,” he said. “I just have a more complete car to fight back up front, and then it’s more enjoyable. I always try to extract the most out of it.” Classic Verstappen: deadpan, unsentimental, and exactly what rivals don’t want to hear.
The effect on McLaren is obvious. What felt, for a long stretch, like an orderly march to a Drivers’ title has turned tense. Piastri still leads; Lando Norris remains within range; and Verstappen has momentum and a team that looks increasingly well-balanced again. Sprint points matter. Mistakes will be magnified. Strategy calls — especially between two orange cars with overlapping ambitions — have to be bulletproof.
Brown’s public recalibration also doubles as a subtle reality check inside the McLaren garage. Red Bull has steadied, Verstappen is locked in, and the window to finish this off is narrowing. If you’re Piastri and Norris, the brief is simple: deliver clean laps, bank the big points, and don’t offer the reigning champion a way in. Because if Verstappen gets a sniff — and the last month says he’s very much got one — he tends to take the whole bakery.
The irony isn’t lost on anyone: the summer rumor mill had Verstappen possibly dressed in silver; instead, as autumn turns to the final act, he’s wearing familiar colors and playing destroyer-of-dreams again. Brown may not love that development, but he clearly respects it. And with seven sessions of championship scoring left — five Sundays, two sprints — McLaren’s job has become less about basking in a constructors’ repeat and more about stopping a fifth straight coronation.
No one in Woking needed the memo. Brown just put it in bold.
