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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has addressed speculation linking Oscar Piastri to Red Bull, insisting that it is McLaren's responsibility to build an environment so compelling that its drivers simply would not want to go anywhere else.
The rumours stem from growing uncertainty surrounding Max Verstappen's long-term future at Red Bull. The Dutchman's contract runs until the end of the 2028 season — when he will be 31 years old — but he has already made clear that he has no intention of racing deep into his late 30s or 40s, unlike fellow world champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen is also understood to hold an escalator clause in his deal, which allows him to exit Red Bull early if certain championship conditions are not met. For the 2025 season, that threshold was a top-three standing at the summer break. The terms tighten further for 2026: should the quadruple champion find himself outside the top two in the standings at that point, he would be free to walk away ahead of the 2027 campaign.
With that contractual mechanism in mind, speculation around potential successors at Red Bull has intensified. David Coulthard, for one, has argued that Verstappen will remain at Red Bull for the rest of his career, believing no rival outfit can replicate the unique environment the Milton Keynes squad offers him. But the question of who might eventually fill his seat remains very much alive in the paddock.
Piastri's name has emerged as one possibility. His manager, Mark Webber, is a former Red Bull driver, and the Australian has established himself as one of the most exciting talents on the current grid. He is contracted to McLaren on a long-term deal, but that has done little to quieten the external noise.
For Brown, the answer to such speculation is not simply to point to a contract — it is to make McLaren the team that no driver, employee, or sponsor would willingly leave.
"I would imagine there's not a team on the grid that wouldn't want to have Oscar and Lando driving for them," Brown told The Athletic. "My general view, contracts aside, is that our job is to create an environment where our drivers don't want to drive anywhere else, or, for that matter, our employees or our sponsors don't want to sponsor another team."
Brown's philosophy reflects a broader organisational ambition at McLaren — one that extends well beyond driver management. Rather than relying on contractual obligation to retain talent, the Woking-based outfit is focused on cultivating a culture of belonging that makes McLaren the destination of choice at every level.
"My job, our job, is to create an environment where you go: 'Well, you've got a contract.' Yes, we have that anyway, for the record," Brown continued. "But you don't want to hold someone because you've got a piece of paper; you want them to go: 'This is the team I want to race with, the team I want to be on, the team I want to be a mechanic on, the team I want to sponsor.'"
It is a mindset that speaks directly to McLaren's current standing in the sport. With a major seven-area upgrade heading to the MCL40 in Canada, the team is clearly not resting on its recent competitive gains either — on or off the track.
"That's what I want to do: try to create that environment," Brown added. "I think there's a lot of talent inside McLaren that other racing teams would like to have."
For now, both Piastri and reigning champion Lando Norris remain firmly at Woking. But in a sport where futures are rarely written in permanent ink, Brown's message is unambiguous: McLaren's greatest weapon in retaining its talent is not a legal document — it is the team itself.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.