{"id":656917,"date":"2026-05-08T03:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656917\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T03:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:54:14","slug":"red-bull-flag-oscar-piastri-as-preferred-replacement-for-max-verstappen-mclaren-contract-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656917\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull flag Oscar Piastri as preferred replacement for Max Verstappen, McLaren contract, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Piastri will be reportedly be Red Bull\u2019s No. 1 target to replace Max Verstappen should the four-time world champion decide to part ways with the team.<\/p>\n

Verstappen\u2019s future at Red Bull has come under question<\/a> after the Dutch driver was linked with Mercedes, while the 28-year-old has also threatened to step away from the sport altogether following his criticism of the sport\u2019s new regulations.<\/p>\n

And as first reported by Autosport<\/a>, Red Bull has singled out Australian driver Piastri as its preferred replacement should Verstappen leave the team.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to the report, Red Bull are not yet convinced No. 2 driver Isack Hadjar is ready to lead the team, while turning to their academy is not considered an option either.<\/p>\n

However, Verstappen and Piastri are both contracted with their respective teams until at least the end of 2028, while McLaren has given no indication they are targeting Verstappen.<\/p>\n

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Piastri has won nine grand prix races since joining McLaren in 2023, while he finished third on the drivers\u2019 standings last season, just 13 points behind teammate Lando Norris. The 25-year-old is coming off consecutive podium finishes in Japan and Miami.<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner lamented the team\u2019s missed opportunity to sign Piastri.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an opportunity for Red Bull to look at him at the time and we didn\u2019t take up that option, which is something that I regret,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he went on to achieve is phenomenal, in Formula 3 and Formula 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen alongside Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Last month, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher floated the idea of a driver swap between Verstappen and Piastri after Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambise announced he would be headed for McLaren at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\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,\u201d Schumacher told Sky Sports at the time.<\/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

Recently, seven-time grand prix winner Pablo Montoya suggested that Piastri\u2019s manager, former Australian F1 driver Mark Webber, was \u201cnot happy\u201d with how things were going at McLaren.<\/p>\n

\u201cPiastri would find a seat anywhere. There\u2019s a suggestion that Max and Piastri could do a straight swap. That makes some sense,\u201d Montoya told a betting website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWebber raced for Red Bull before. He knows Red Bull. So that would be a sensible thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be a logical thing to do. The question is, would McLaren be comfortable spending the money that Max would want?\u201d<\/p>\n

The F1 season resumes with the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday, May 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Piastri will be reportedly be Red Bull\u2019s No. 1 target to replace Max Verstappen should the four-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-656917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656917","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=656917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}