{"id":607892,"date":"2026-04-15T06:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607892\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T06:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:26:09","slug":"f1-2026-ralf-schumacher-tips-max-verstappen-to-leave-red-bull-in-swap-with-oscar-piastri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607892\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 2026: Ralf Schumacher tips Max Verstappen to leave Red Bull in swap with Oscar Piastri"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri could be replaced at McLaren by Max Verstappen, according to former Formula 1 star Ralf Schumacher.<\/p>\n

The Aussie driver reportedly has a contract until 2028 and he has spoken of his desire to stay at McLaren long-term.<\/p>\n

Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

But after Verstappen\u2019s trusted engineer Gianpiero Lambiase confirmed he will switch <\/a>from Red Bull to McLaren, Schumacher believes the Dutchman could follow.<\/p>\n

He told Sky Sports Germany: \u201cThis could mean he leaves Red Bull because he no longer believes in the team and quits altogether, especially since he never tires of emphasising how boring he finds Formula 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr, he goes to McLaren with his engineer, which would equally mean that there are negotiations underway at McLaren for Oscar Piastri to go to Red Bull, something we\u2019ve seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Piastri, 25, signed a new deal at McLaren only last year and hinted that his long-term future with the team was secured in the process.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling knowing that I\u2019m part of McLaren\u2019s long-term vision. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe team had the belief in me when we signed in 2022, and the journey we\u2019ve gone on over the past two seasons to help return McLaren to the very top of the sport has been incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many talented and special people working at McLaren who have helped me to become a Formula 1 race winner very early in my career. <\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, I\u2019m very proud to be continuing to represent this legendary team for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

But three-time Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert also believes Verstappen may be eyeing a move to McLaren.<\/p>\n

He claims the team would not just offer a chance to re-unite with Lambiase, but also the chance to race at Le Mans – an aim Verstappen has made no secret of.<\/p>\n

\"Piastri's<\/p>\n

Herbert told Vision4Sport<\/a>: \u201cWith Max it\u2019s not just about having the right car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Max was in a Mercedes, I think you\u2019d still hear complaints, because he still wants that buzz.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s not getting that at the moment. Then that goes back to if he\u2019s allowed to do those other forms of racing and get the thrill that he needs as a whole package.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I think McLaren could well make sense for him in the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Lambiase moving in 2027 that has shifted the goalposts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcLaren have actually improved as well, started off badly, but are now a lot more competitive in a relatively short space of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcLaren have a hypercar. So could that be part of any package that they might offer Max at Le Mans for example as well as still doing Formula 1? Maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri could be replaced at McLaren by Max Verstappen, according to former Formula 1 star Ralf Schumacher.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-607892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}