McLaren throw door ‘wide open’ for Max Verstappen despite Red Bull deal

The Dutchman extended his contract with Red Bull Racing last summer through 2030, but that doesn’t hasn't stopped the McLaren boss from keeping Verstappen in mind for the future.

Brown admits he spoke with Verstappen several times last summer. A move didn’t happen, but the conversations changed his view of the four-time Formula 1 world champion. “I spoke to Max a couple of times last summer. Simply because I wanted to get to know him better,” Brown tells De Telegraaf. Earlier, Verstappen also confirmed he had held talks with McLaren.

“If I had to use one word to describe him now, it would be a word that wouldn’t have occurred to me before those conversations. Namely: charming. I bet no one who doesn’t know him well would describe him that way. But I’m really impressed by him. A racer through and through,” he continues.

Brown is particularly taken by the way Verstappen approaches motorsport. The McLaren boss looks beyond his performances in F1 and points, among other things, to Verstappen’s GT3 program. He sees qualities there that he also saw in Fernando Alonso.

“His focus and the way he looks at motorsport from a driver’s perspective I found very impressive. You can see it in how involved Max is with the GT3 program and how technically proficient he is. Fernando had that too,” says Brown.

The American cites an example from the period when Alonso was preparing for the Indy 500. During a shared flight, the Spaniard, according to him, watched all 200 laps of onboard footage from an earlier edition of the race. For Brown, that illustrates how thoroughly Alonso prepares and leaves nothing to chance. “That must be the most boring thing there is. But Fernando didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”

According to Brown, the conversations with Verstappen were mainly intended to get to know each other better. Verstappen ultimately chose a longer future with Red Bull and is now locked in there through 2030. At the same time, Brown emphasizes that he is happy with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, but he does not rule out that McLaren’s and Verstappen’s paths could still cross later on.

“The talks were more exploratory, to get to know each other better. Because you never know what the future will bring,” Brown explains. “But I came away much more impressed than I had expected, from an individual standpoint. I feel like: I can really go racing with this guy. Because I hate racing against him.”

Verstappen’s new contract does not change Brown’s long-term stance. The McLaren boss even mentions different years in which, as far as he is concerned, a partnership would still be up for discussion.

“The door is still wide open for Max. For 2028, 2029, or whatever year,” says Brown. “I enjoyed getting to know him better and would love to work with him someday.”