03/07/2025
NEWS STORY
McLaren boss Zak Brown says that without the brilliance of Max Verstappen the Austrian outfit would be trailing its sister team.
As we have repeatedly pointed out, the Dutch driver has scored 155 of the team's 162 points, around 95%, while Racing Bulls has 36 points to its credit.
Liam Lawson failed to score in either of his two outings while Yuki Tsunoda has scored 7 since his promotion. However, other than failing to score a point in his four most recent outings, the highly-rated Japanese has not made it into Q3 since Miami.
The problem is increasingly seen as not being with the drivers but with the car, and while the team is still struggling with the after effects of last year's 'Horner-saga', things are not helped by concern over the 2026 regulations and increasing speculation over Verstappen's future.
"Red Bull would be behind Racing Bulls," Brown told Sky Sports at a fan event in London. "They have done a great job and have a great racing car," he added. "But I think Max is carrying them at the moment."
Asked about the speculation linking Verstappen with Mercedes, Brown said: "I'm a believer of when there's smoke, there's fire. If everyone was committed to their seats, that's what they would be saying.
"The fact everyone's talking and no one is confirming anything, tells me there are conversations going on. I said a while ago I wouldn't be surprised to see Max in a Mercedes.
"I don't care where he goes," he insisted. "I appreciate Max as a competitor. He's a bit tough but I enjoy our battles together."
Talking to ESPN however, the American was a little more forthcoming on the prospect of Verstappen joining Mercedes.
"That's a bit scary," he admitted. "I think Mercedes is clearly on a forward trajectory, Red Bull clearly is not at the moment, and Max is an unbelievable talent. So Max in a Mercedes, that's some pretty serious competition."
Asked if his team would be interested in the Dutchman, he was adamant: "No, I couldn't be happier with our driver line-up. I've said it from day one that I think we have the best driver line-up in Formula 1, and right now it would be difficult to argue that factually it's statistically true.
"And because of the characters they are, the talent they are on the track off the track, I wouldn't trade our two drivers for any other drivers on the grid."
Despite claims that Austria effectively ended Verstappen's hopes of a fifth successive title, Brown isn't so sure, believing that even George Russell remains a threat.
"It's way too early," he said. "He's an unbelievable talent of course, and I don't think George Russell is out of the game.
"You know we're not even halfway through this season," he continued. "We see how quickly our season turned around last year. There's absolutely no reason why that can't happen with Max or the Mercedes specifically. George, because of where he is in the points, and even Ferrari, so I think we've just got to keep doing what we're doing. It's great that we have a nice lead. It's great that we extended it this last weekend but we got a lot of racing to go, so I still think you've got four drivers realistically in the fight for the drivers' championship."
Oscar Piastri agrees.
"I don't really want to rule Max out," he told ESPN. "Obviously the gap is quite big now and I think the car has been very competitive. Austria was in some ways a pleasant surprise in how competitive we were. I think we expected to be strong, but not quite that strong. So if we can keep that going, I think it's good for a two-way battle.
"But again, the championship is still long, still 13 races left," he added. "It's not an insurmountable gap by any means. So I'm not going to rule him out."
Asked if Verstappen is a harder opponent, the Australian said: "Definitely tough. I think he's a driver that races extremely hard. Pushes the boundaries well and truly in terms of what's acceptable.
"But I feel for myself, I always try and toe that line as well. And try and always race people hard... fairly, but hard. Ultimately he's a four-time world champion for a reason, and one of those reasons is because he's very good at wheel-to-wheel battles.
"I've definitely learnt a few things this year," he continued. "Held my own in a lot of cases, learned a few lessons in some other cases. But he's a tough competitor, definitely. But that's what we're all here to do and race for."
Asked how it feels to be the hunted and not the hunter, he replied: "I prefer to be leading it, obviously. The main place you want to lead it is at the end of the year, but I think generally I've been in this position before in my junior career.
"I always kind of say that normally if you're leading a championship, it means you're doing something right. So I'm enjoying it. I think, honestly, I'm just trying to go into every weekend trying to get the most out of that that I can. And it's still very early in the year, so the championship picture is nice when you look at it, but ultimately it can change very quickly.
"So I'm enjoying being the hunted, but I'm just trying to get the most out of each week."