A carelessly discarded banana peel could see Max Verstappen at McLaren admits Zak Brown.
All the Red Bull big guns were at Spielberg this weekend, and no doubt the Dutchman’s future with the company’s F1 team was one of the topics discussed over the course of the three days.
Linked with Mercedes and Aston Martin for much of last year, the Daily Mail claimed last week that the Dutchman is now in talks with McLaren.
“I’d be very surprised if Lando or Oscar went elsewhere, because they are very happy,” Zak Brown told Sky when asked about the claim. “Of course they have contracts, but besides that, we’re very happy with them and they are very happy here.
“If, for some strange reason, someone slipped on a banana peel getting out of the tub, then yeah of course, Max is a four-time world champion,” he added.
Ahead of the weekend, Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen told De Telegraaf: “We feel at home at Red Bull, but we want to be competitive. Max wasn’t born to race in the midfield.
“Our goal is to finish this adventure together with Red Bull,” he added. “The spirit of Red Bull and the spirit of Verstappen, they match. We just need a package that allows us to fight at the front. That has always been the foundation.”
Asked about the speculation, Verstappen said: “It doesn’t do anything for me and I don’t pay any attention to it. These days it’s all very easy. With AI, you can Photoshop anything you want.”
Asked what he needs from Red Bull in order to convince him to remain, he said: “They know, I don’t need to talk too much about it.
“Most of the upgrades worked well,” he said of the race. “There are a few things we still need to look at to see whether they can be improved. Overall, I think it was a bit better, although this is obviously a very short lap. That naturally means that the gaps are a bit smaller.
“We’re still behind,” he added, “so we have to wait for the coming races to see what it looks like there.”
Whether finishing second on Sunday is enough remains to be seen. However, with the topsy-turvy form of some of the leading teams it is likely that the ‘will he, won’t he’ saga will continue for some time.