McLaren phoned Max Verstappen to ‘explore the market’
McLaren reveal phone call to Max Verstappen

McLaren put in a call to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen in a bold move which would have📖 shake🔜n the F1 drivers’ market.
McLaren CEO Zak Bওrown phoned Verstappen “some time ago”, he told .
Howe𒊎ver, Brown insisted it was only a single phone call to “explꦅore the market”.
McLaren enquired about Max Verstappen availability
Red Bull star Verstappeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚn’s future was in ques🙈tion a year ago amid his team’s internal battle which involved Christian Horner.
Jos Verstappen and Helmut Mꦐarko became embroiled ♏in the problem which threatened Red Bull’s top driver’s stay at the team.
Mercedes boss T🐠oto Wolff was v꧑ocal about signing Verstappen, at the time.
McLaren and Mercedes look away from Max Ver꧟stappen
But the F1 dr༺iver marke🍷t has considerably changed since Verstappen’s future was at-risk.
A🍸head of this weekend’s F1 Australian Grand Prix, McLaren tied Oscar Piastri down to a new multi-year contract.
Tha🎐t fresh deal reportedly gives Piastri parity with teammate Lando Norris’ജ hefty wages, at around £20m-per-year according to the Daily Mail.
Mercedes have a�ဣ�lso committed to Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement, next to George Russell.
And W🤡olff moved to shut the door on Ve🌠rstappen to Mercedes.
Wolff is committed to building rooki🌳e Antonelli’s F1 career. Antonelli has been liꦆkened to a teenage Verstappen, who Mercedes missed out on signing.
Russell is also set for contract talks 🅠with Mercedes which෴ would solidify his status.
From 2026, the new F1 engine regulations will create a 𓆏dynamic where any front-runജning team could burst out of the gates with an era-defining car.
That means Verstappen - and every top F1ꦡ driver - will be looking around tꦆo see which car might give them the greatest chance of victory.
The driver market is l♑ikely to take further twists when 2026 creates a 𓄧new pecking order.

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade cover﷽ing everything from American spor🌜ts, to football, to F1.