McLaren CEO Zak Brown has responded to driver market speculation linking his Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri with a shock Red Bull move.
Max Verstappen’s discontentment with the 2026 F1 regulations have thrown a spanner in the works with respect to the driver market.
The four-time World Champion has increasingly become disillusioned with the direction the sport is taking.
Earlier, the 28-year-old had indicated that he doesn’t wish to chase countless F1 titles or even race in the category into his 30s and 40s.
With Verstappen’s Red Bull contract ending in 2028, the rumor mill has already started churning out names of the potential replacements for him at Milton-Keynes.
Piastri, who has quickly become a leading driver in the paddock is suggested to be top on the list for the six-time Constructors’ Champions.
His current boss, Brown, admits that but is confident he can retain the Australian’s services for the Woking-based team in the long-term.
“I would imagine there’s not a team on the grid that wouldn’t want to have Oscar and Lando [Norris] driving for them,” he told The Athletic.
“My general view, contracts aside, is that our job is to create an environment where our drivers don’t want to drive anywhere else, or, for that matter, our employees or our sponsors don’t want to sponsor another team.”
Zak Brown details McLaren “environment” that prevents F1 poaching within its ranks
Since his arrival at the team in 2017, Brown has overseen a sharp rise in the fortunes for the former British sleeping giants.
McLaren denied Red Bull the 2024 Constructors’ Championship before wrapping up a double, last season, with Norris winning his maiden Drivers’ title over Verstappen by just two points.
Notwithstanding this competitive run of form, on track, Brown reiterates that the “environment” back at factory has been key to retaining talent that otherwise is the envy of the entire paddock.
“My general view, contracts aside, is that our job is to create an environment where our drivers don’t want to drive anywhere else, or, for that matter, our employees or our sponsors don’t want to sponsor another team,” he explained.
“My job, our job, is to create an environment where you go: ‘Well, you’ve got a contract.’ Yes, we have that anyway, for the record.
“But you don’t want to hold someone because you’ve got a piece of paper; you want (them) to go: ‘This is the team I want to race with, the team I want to be on, the team I want to be a mechanic on, the team I want to sponsor.’
“That’s what I want to do: try to create that environment. I think there’s a lot of talent inside McLaren that other racing teams would like to have.”
2026 has seen McLaren endure a mixed start to F1’s latest era. But Piastri’s consecutive podiums at Japan and Miami would have surely buoyed the team ahead of the Canadian GP, this weekend.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri issued warning against McLaren F1 exit
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