With Oscar Piastri having signed a contract extension with McLaren earlier this week, the team arguably have one of the best driver lineups locked in for the long term. Lando Norris had already signed a deal with the Woking-based outfit that will last at least until the end of the 2027 season and now Piastri too will stay at least until the end of 2028.
With both drivers having penned long-term deals, it shows the faith people have in the McLaren project. McLaren CEO Zak Brown also stated that since he wanted stability, it was a no-brainer to extend the Australian’s contract.
“It was an easy decision to sign Oscar,” the American told De Telegraaf. “There was no pressure from either side. We want stability within the team. That’s an important role for me. In big sports teams, you always see that stability is a very important aspect of long-term success. Drivers are obviously a key part of that”.
That said, Brown did admit that he approached Max Verstappen before signing the extension with Piastri.
However, Brown said that he only made a one-time call to the Dutchman’s management to gather some information about the driver market and there was never any serious discussion of wanting to sign him.
McLaren-baas Zak Brown informeerde enige tijd geleden naar Max Verstappen, maar het blijf bij één belletje ‘om de markt te verkennen’, zo bevestigt hij desgevraagd.
Lando Norris (2028) en Oscar Piastri (2029) liggen nu nog jaren vast.
https://t.co/8NiCOAgxgD via @Telegraaf
— Erik van Haren (@ErikvHaren) March 13, 2025
Naturally, with young and quick talents like Norris and Piastri in his wings, the McLaren CEO wouldn’t want to unsettle the team’s dynamic by bringing in a behemoth like Verstappen.
Amid Verstappen’s links with Mercedes last year, he himself admitted that drivers often hold such discussions with different teams even though they feel settled with where they are. As for Brown, approaching Verstappen could have also been a ploy to convince Piastri to sign a further extension.
Verstappen remains loyal to Red Bull
With Verstappen arguably the best driver on the current grid, there will always be speculations surrounding his future. This was the case all the more last year because of the internal turmoil that Red Bull was going through with the Christian Horner saga coupled with the team’s drop in performance on track.
Verstappen has time and again reiterated that he wants a peaceful environment around him and it was anything but that last year when Red Bull GmbH were investigating Horner for alleged “inappropriate behavior” towards a female employee.
What made the situation worse for the Dutchman was that Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko — someone he has a close bond with — was also being investigated for his alleged involvement in compromising Horner by leaking private chats.
This led to reports emerging that Red Bull could sack Marko and when that emerged, Verstappen made his loyalty to the Austrian clear by stating that he too would leave the team if they were to sack the 81-year-old.
While there are no longer reports of Marko’s future being up in the air, Red Bull’s underperformance continues to be a bone of contention for Verstappen. The 27-year-old has admitted that Red Bull are not as quick as the McLarens and they have a lot of work to do if they are to become competitive again.
Despite Red Bull having dropped the ball, it has not changed Verstappen’s outlook for the future, though. He stated in an interview earlier this year that he desires to stay at Milton Keynes until his contract expires at the end of 2028.
