Mika Hakkinen warns McLaren against pursuing Max Verstappen

Hakkinen urges McLaren to protect its harmony

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen has urged McLaren to resist the temptation to pursue Max Verstappen, arguing that the team’s internal spirit should take priority over a headline-making driver change.

The Finnish former McLaren driver addressed the speculation during the Up To Speed podcast alongside David Coulthard, his former team-mate. As the pair discussed the ongoing driver-market uncertainty, Coulthard asked Hakkinen how he would respond if he were McLaren team principal and had the opportunity to place Verstappen alongside Lando Norris.

The question centred on whether pairing a four-time champion with Norris could create unnecessary tension inside a team that is already operating with a strong driver line-up. Hakkinen’s answer was clear: McLaren should minimise the risk of damaging its existing dynamic.

“It’s very interesting,” Hakkinen said. “It’s not only Max out there, of course, but there are many other drivers. But what I have seen [with] how McLaren operates, they want to really look at the overall team package all the time. Because that’s the only way to achieve success — to build incredible team spirit power inside.”

He added: “If you would ask me what I would do, I would like to minimise that risk — that way you would lose this kind of team spirit if the team has two great drivers. Why rock the boat?”

The argument closely aligns with the importance Hakkinen places on McLaren’s collective approach, a theme also explored in McLaren’s “no-blame” culture is powering its return to the F1 summit.

Continuity over a market gamble

Hakkinen based his view on his own experience at Woking. He and Coulthard spent six seasons as McLaren team-mates, a period he presented as evidence that a stable partnership can be more valuable than a change made purely because an elite driver becomes available.

“And of course McLaren having a world champion... and we were the longest team-mates in Formula 1,” Hakkinen said. “That indicates that if there’s a good harmony inside a team, why have somebody else there?”

His comments arrive amid persistent rumours linking Verstappen with a possible move from Red Bull to McLaren. For Hakkinen, however, the key question is not simply whether Verstappen is available. It is whether a move would strengthen the complete team package without undermining the cooperation that McLaren currently values.

Formula 1 returns with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 21–23 August, when the speculation will remain part of the wider midseason driver-market conversation.