SILVERSTONE, UK — McLaren’s talks with Max Verstappen “didn’t go anywhere” according to CEO Zak Brown, as he is “very happy” with existing Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.Reports emerged last week ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix that there had been conversations between Verstappen’s management and McLaren about a potential future F1 race seat, which were initiated by the Dutchman’s side.Verstappen is under contract at Red Bull through to 2028, but has clauses within his contract that are likely to allow him to leave the team at the end of the season if desired if he is not in the top two of the world championship at a certain point of the year.Verstappen is currently seventh in the standings, having scored only two podium finishes in the opening eight races of the year.The links to Verstappen came despite the fact that McLaren drivers Norris, the reigning world champion, and Piastri, who fought for last year’s title and lost out to his team-mate by 13 points, both hold long-term contracts with the team.Brown addressed the Verstappen speculation in a number of interviews ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, saying on Radio X that he had “two awesome racing drivers” in Piastri and Norris and that “you’re going to see them in our race cars for a long, long time.”The topic persisted through to Friday’s FIA news conference at Silverstone, which Brown simply referred to the stories as “rumors” before again reaffirming his commitment to Norris and Piastri.“I’m very happy with my two racing drivers, Lando and Oscar,” Brown said. “I think any time a name like Max is thrown around, everyone gets pretty excited, a four-time world champion. But (I’m) very happy with our driver line-up.”Asked as a follow-up that if a move were to happen for Verstappen, it would not be any time soon, Brown replied: “Correct.”Brown added in subsequent answers that he hadn’t considered how McLaren may appeal to Verstappen “because I’ve got two drivers and a seat. So what I couldn’t offer him was a seat in my race car.”On the talks specifically, Brown said: “They didn’t go anywhere. I’ve got my two drivers. So there’s nothing to report.”In an exclusive interview alongside Piastri with The Athletic in May, Brown brushed off potential interest from Red Bull in the Australian in the event of Verstappen’s departure, saying there was “not a team on the grid that wouldn’t want to have Oscar and Lando driving for them.”Verstappen’s future has been a recurring talking point in recent years, having been linked with a move to Mercedes in each of the past summers before ultimately staying put at Red Bull.That door appears shut for him going into 2027 given George Russell’s multi-year contract and 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli’s sensational form, winning five races this year en route to a 40-point championship lead.One of Verstappen’s closest allies, race engineer GianPiero Lambiase, will join McLaren within the next 18 months in a senior engineering role. Announced in April, it will be the latest major departure from Red Bull since Verstappen’s run of four world titles from 2021 to 2024.Verstappen knocked back a question about the McLaren discussions when speaking to reporters on Thursday, saying he was “not going to involve myself in that.”“I’ve said what I wanted to say already before,” Verstappen said. “If there’s something new or something that changes, you’ll hear it from me and not from someone else writing it, right?“I just focus on the job that I have with my team. We’re on the way up, and that’s really nice to see. I had a really positive weekend in Austria.“We just try to improve from there further. I know it can be quite tough, there’s a lot of competition, but we’re here to just try and go fast.”Jul 3, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms