Max Verstappen and McLaren announce surprise collaboration amid transfer talk

The lifelong Red Bull driver reportedly held talks with the British squad, but looks unlikely to be joining them in 2027.

However, his Verstappen Racing brand has still linked up with McLaren, supporting their Belgian junior driver Dries van Langendonck.

The 15-year-old talent will continue as a member of the McLaren Driver Development Programme while receiving additional support from the four-time champion.

Verstappen said in a team statement:

Van Langendonck added:

Van Langendonck was born in the same city as Verstappen, Hasselt in Belgium and began go-karting aged eight.

He later won the 2023 World Junior Karting Championship, the same competition won by Verstappen, Lando Norris, Jenson Button and the legendary Ayrton Senna.

The Belgian was signed by McLaren in the summer of 2024 and now races in single-seaters, competing in British Formula 4.

Verstappen Racing was created in 2022 by the four-time champion and now operates across GT3 racing, where the Red Bull star often competes, as well as rallying and e-sports.

Dutch talent Thierry Vermeulen also competes under the ‘Verstappen Racing’ branding in DTM and the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.

The news shows strong relations between Verstappen and McLaren, even if a transfer doesn’t come to fruition.

The titans of F1 battled for last season’s championship with McLaren’s Lando Norris eventually coming out on top in the season finale.

The year before, tensions were on display when McLaren began hunting down Verstappen for the 2024 title.

CEO Zak Brown has said in an interview that Verstappen ‘couldn’t win the world championship today in any car other than a Red Bull’.

After sealing the title, Verstappen interrupted a Brown post-race interview to tell him with a smile: “Like you said, before I could only win it in the fastest car but this year is a little different.”

Having beaten Verstappen to the 2025 title, McLaren then delivered another blow at the start of 2026 when they announced a deal for his long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to join as Chief Racing Officer.

In 2021, Verstappen jokingly said of ‘GP’: "I have said to him I only work with him. As soon as he stops, I stop too.”

Reacting after the news broke in Miami, he said: