Verstappen-McLaren, Max does not deny: “If there are any news you will hear it from me”. And he does not ‘give up’ the exit clause

I neither confirm nor deny

At Silverstone’s media day, the elephant in the room is the market, with incessant rumors about possible driver transfers for the 2027 season, which, as always, become even more persistent with the arrival of summer. The center of attention is always him, Max Verstappen, who must have gotten used to being linked every year to a different team. In reality, however, he is the same four-time world champion who, with his way of doing things, always seems to keep a door open for a possible early team change ahead of the end of his contract, which expires at the end of 2028. Even today, in fact, the Dutch phenomenon, when asked for a comment on the rumors that he might be negotiating to join McLaren, responded without denying this speculation.

“I have no intention of getting involved in this matter – said Verstappen – I have already said what I wanted to say before. If something new happens or if there are changes, you will hear it from me and not through rumors or from someone else writing about it, right?”. Not exactly a declaration of eternal loyalty to Red Bull. But Verstappen is also letting his actions speak. The existence of an exit clause in the contract that Verstappen could activate by September and that would allow him to leave Red Bull at the end of the season if, at the summer break, the Dutchman is not in the top-2 or top-3 (depending on interpretations) of the Drivers’ standings is well known.

The clause remains active

We wrote to you in recent days that Red Bull was interested in removing this clause by ‘buying it’ from Verstappen himself for millions. A sort of ‘ransom’ to ensure the Dutch superstar stays with the team until the end of 2028. According to what the site F1-Insider.com reported, however, Verstappen declined an offer from Red Bull of eight million dollars and chose to keep the exit clause. The Dutchman’s intention would therefore be clear: wait until mid-season, assess the level of progress made by Red Bull, and then decide whether to continue trusting his current team or explore the possibility of a sensational transfer. McLaren at that point, which has already secured Verstappen’s current race engineer, Giampiero Lambiase, for 2028, and is full of figures who have already worked with the Dutchman at Red Bull, would be the first choice.

Meanwhile, the #3 from Hasselt is thinking about the present: “I simply focus on my work with the team. We are trying to find the way back to the top and it’s really nice to see. I had a really positive weekend in Austria – said Verstappen – and starting from there, now we just try to improve further. I know well, of course, that it can be quite difficult and that the competition is fierce, but we are here just to try to go faster“. And making the RB22 faster and faster seems to be the only weapon left for Red Bull to convince Verstappen not to look around too much.

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