Zak Brown on his call to Max Verstappen’s camp: “I got what I needed—hope he stays at Red Bull”. Zak Brown confirms he contacted Max Verstappen’s management over the winter .

An unexpected revelation
In mid-March, Dutch outlet De Telegraaf reported that McLaren CEO Zak Brown had reached out to Max Verstappen’s management to assess whether there might be conditions to bring him to the team. However, the Red Bull champion wasn’t thrilled by the proposal and even joked about it shortly after: “When he found out how much he’d have to pay, that was the end of it.” McLaren later confirmed Oscar Piastri, the current championship leader.

Zak Brown speaks
Over the Miami weekend, Zak Brown spoke with De Telegraaf, offering his version of the story: “About that phone call: my job is to explore the market and know what’s happening. Let’s not forget that during that time I was negotiating a new contract with one of my drivers. I need to be able to anticipate a potential domino effect, because it could also involve my own driver. That’s why I made some inquiries.”

The phone conversation took place between Zak Brown and Max’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen: “Let me just say that I got the information I needed from that call. And I’ll add this: if you ask me now, looking at the current situation, I’d rather see Max still driving for Red Bull than for Mercedes,” the McLaren executive concluded.