{"id":762786,"date":"2026-06-27T02:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T02:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762786\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T02:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T02:00:13","slug":"f1-2026-mclaren-and-red-bull-shut-down-oscar-piastri-and-max-verstappen-swap-deal-rumours-drivers-market-2027-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762786\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 2026: McLaren and Red Bull shut down Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen swap deal rumours, drivers market, 2027 contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Team boss Laurent Mekies has addressed rumours linking four-time champion Max Verstappen with a stunning move to McLaren, which would reportedly see Oscar Piastri end up at Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>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? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/f1?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkmotorsport-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-mtr-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Verstappen has long been linked with moves to other teams including Mercedes and, more recently, McLaren &#8211; in a reported swap deal for Piastri &#8211; but this has been denied by McLaren.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The latest report from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/sport\/formulaone\/article-15930283\/Max-Verstappen-secret-talks-McLaren-sensational-switch-Red-Bull-80m-year-star-early-year-Oscar-Piastri-going-way.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Daily Mail<\/a> on Friday claimed that Verstappen and McLaren have opened preliminary talks with the aim of the Dutchman joining Lando Norris.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2028, but has certain release clauses that could see him link up with a rival team.<\/p>\n<p>Sources told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/verstappen-to-mclaren-and-ocons-haas-future-has-f1s-silly-season-ramped-up.6t1Fl3pwbkwHboSiuuL473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Formula1.com<\/a> that Verstappen\u2019s team did have an informal chat with McLaren boss Zak Brown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean the world championship-winning team were actively pursuing the Dutchman,\u201d F1 correspondent and present Lawrence Barretto went on to write.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s commonplace in F1 that team principals, team owners, driver managers and even fathers hold talks with each other to build a picture of what the driver market looks like.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt makes sense for a driver and his management to test the water with rival teams to assess potential opportunities, either because they want a move or they want to know there\u2019s potential if they need a move in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, such conversations can be used to put pressure on a driver\u2019s current team to improve their situation or help them realise they have the best option.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt also makes sense for teams to respond to interest from other parties and have an informal conversation with a rival, even if they don\u2019t need a driver because information is power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/motorsport\/formula-one\/f1-2026-austrian-grand-prix-practice-results-mclaren-surprise-as-kimi-antonelli-tops-the-timesheet-heat-reaction-replay\/news-story\/16d514c24fb357d53ed329f2cc3a7c1c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Piastri, McLaren have rivals taking notice after F1 \u2018surprise\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Verstappen gives Russell the finger | 00:07<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Barretto summed it up by reporting that for now the meeting looks to more be a case of simply \u201cassessing the market\u201d and that \u201cas it stands\u201d McLaren is not looking to move away from its Piastri-Norris line-up.<\/p>\n<p>It comes after Verstappen\u2019s manager Raymond Vermeulen told Dutch publication <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraaf.nl\/sport\/autosport\/toekomst-verstappen-blijft-gemoederen-bezighouden-max-is-niet-geboren-om-mee-te-doen-in-het-middenveld\/157863974.html?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">De Telegraaf<\/a> that while the goal is to \u201csee this adventure through together with Red Bull\u201d, that message comes with a proviso.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just need a package that allows us to fight at the front. That has always been the foundation. We feel at home at Red Bull, but we want to be competitive. In the end, Max wasn\u2019t born to race in the midfield,\u201d added Vermeulen.<\/p>\n<p>In the same article, journalist Erik van Haren wrote that McLaren is the most realistic to snap up Verstappen if he left Red Bull, adding that it is known Piastri also has clauses in his contract that would allow him to leave after this season.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren&#8217;s Oscar Piastri. (Photo by ERWIN SCHERIAU \/ APA \/ AFP) \/ Austria OUTSource: AFP<\/p>\n<p>After seven races this year, Verstappen has managed only one podium finish with Red Bull and seen his hopes of a fourth title diminish.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking between the two opening practice sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull boss Mekies made clear that he believes Verstappen hopes to remain and complete his career with Red Bull, as he has often stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMax has made clear to us that he wants to continue with the team,\u201d said Mekies. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s equally clear that he needs a fast car for him to be happy with the team.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Verstappen complained that the new \u2018hybrid era\u2019 cars were not enjoyable to drive and suggested he was contemplating leaving F1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is pushing with us to find the right developments for the car. So for us the topic is to get the car back to where we all want it to be.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team boss Laurent Mekies has addressed rumours linking four-time champion Max Verstappen with a stunning move to McLaren,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-762786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762786","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=762786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}