Verstappen to McLaren looks increasingly sensible after yet another Red Bull exit

Paul Monaghan is leaving Red Bull Racing for a new adventure at Cadillac. It’s yet another top figure departing Red Bull. In recent years, Rob Marshall, Lee Stevenson, Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Will Courtenay, Christian Horner, and Helmut Marko have all jumped ship. Now Gianpiero Lambiase (leaving in 2028) and Paul Monaghan are added to that growing list, all within a span of less than four years.

Staff moving to other teams in Formula 1 is nothing new. Especially with a new team like Cadillac and a fresh project like Audi, the pull is strong for personnel at a top-performing team. Still, the list of names—particularly people in top positions—is very long for such a short time frame.

Conversely, Red Bull itself has yet to announce new hires, painting a picture primarily of an exodus. Red Bull is proud of its own academy and is promoting plenty of in-house talent into new roles, but those people still have to prove themselves.

Monaghan’s departure will also be felt. For years, Red Bull has excelled at optimizing the car over a race weekend. As Chief Engineer, Monaghan has played a leading role in that annually, much like Jonathan Wheatley did with Red Bull Racing’s pit stops. His successor will have big shoes to fill.

In 2024, Max Verstappen spoke prophetic words, saying it was important to him that the team stayed together. The opposite has happened. Everyone and everything within the team has left or is set to leave, including the circle of engineers around him.

Verstappen has decided to continue in Formula 1 in 2027, but not yet whether he will do so with Red Bull. The new updates in Austria will give him insight into the capabilities of the technical team. If they can reconnect with the top teams, there’s certainly a case for Max simply staying at Red Bull.

Still, the picture at McLaren is becoming more and more compelling. Several of those key figures Verstappen wanted to keep have now gathered there. Rob Marshall has been successfully building the car there for several years, Will Courtenay has been brought in to improve McLaren’s strategy, and Gianpiero Lambiase will join McLaren in 2028.

McLaren is also an attractive proposition outside of F1. In fact, with a hypercar available, Verstappen would even have the option to compete in 24-hour races in a McLaren hypercar. And he’s unlikely to worry much about competition with Lando Norris, given that he was already stronger with a weaker Red Bull in 2024 and missed the 2025 title by just two points with an inferior car.

McLaren says the rumours about talks with Verstappen are ‘nonsense’, but increasingly this deal seems like a good option for both parties. Verstappen needs the strongest team. Is that still Red Bull, or does McLaren have better people? McLaren needs the strongest drivers. If you can get Max, that’s always an improvement over the drivers they currently have.