It is understood that the Red Bull Racing F1 team has shortlisted McLaren driver Oscar Piastri as a potential replacement for Max Verstappen.
According to a report by Motorsport.com, Red Bull is expected to go ahead with the Piastri plan if Verstappen decides to switch teams, or if he decides to quit F1, given his rising interest in real-world GT3 and endurance racing.
Verstappen’s dissatisfaction with the current 2026 F1 regulations and Red Bull’s current struggles with the RB22 F1 car could add to the factors paving the way to his exit.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies and managing director of Red Bull GmbH, Oliver Mintzlaff, are reportedly prepared to sign Piastri if Verstappen decides to part ways with the team before the end of his Red Bull contract at the end of 2028.
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Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber had been managing Piastri. However, for the current season, the Australian driver dropped Webber in favor of Pedro Matos, his former F2 engineer at Prema, a move that could have relieved McLaren.
Red Bull’s internal dynamics have shifted greatly in the last year, making it a pretty different team than what it was when Verstappen dominated F1. Christian Horner’s ousting, followed by Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko’s exit, with whom Verstappen was close, highlights a new environment within the team.
Not to forget the exit announcement of Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, who is slated to join McLaren in 2028 as the team’s chief racing officer. Lambiase has been the four-time world champion’s race engineer since the driver’s early days at Red Bull.
That could be another contributing factor to Verstappen’s detachment from Red Bull and F1, prompting the Milton Keynes-based team to keep a Plan B in place, in case Verstappen decides to leave before his current contract ends.
