McLaren rules out Max Verstappen move as Belgian Grand Prix nears

Zak Brown has poured cold water on the idea of Max Verstappen joining McLaren, saying the only realistic opening would come if one of the team’s current drivers unexpectedly fell away. The McLaren chief framed it as a freak occurrence, saying someone would have to “slip on a banana peel” for the move to happen.

The line matters because McLaren’s driver set-up is already built around Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, two drivers the team has backed as its present and future. Brown’s public stance leaves little room for reading Verstappen as an active target under normal circumstances, even as his name continues to circulate through Formula 1’s driver-market chatter.

That chatter has intensified around Red Bull Racing’s form and around Verstappen’s future beyond 2026. In a sport where one elite signing can redraw competitive and political lines across the paddock, McLaren’s position is telling: stability, rather than a blockbuster reshuffle, appears to be the priority.

The debate is building just as Formula 1 turns toward Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix, which will run from July 17 to 19, 2026. The race itself is scheduled for Sunday, July 19, over 44 laps of the 7.004-kilometre Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium’s Ardennes, a venue long associated with high-speed commitment and decisive weekends.

Spa remains one of the sport’s iconic circuits, with Eau Rouge and Raidillon defining its rhythm and reputation. That backdrop gives the Verstappen question extra weight, because the Belgian Grand Prix is not only another stop on the calendar but a stage where team hierarchy, car development cycles and driver influence all come into sharp focus.

For McLaren, the message is blunt. Norris and Piastri are the current structure, Brown has made clear that Verstappen is not part of the plan unless the grid shifts in a way no team can engineer, and the wider market will have to keep asking whether any superstar move would make competitive, financial and political sense before it ever becomes real.