Drivers

Verstappen calls Red Bull "a second family" as McLaren rumours and RB22 turmoil swirl

By Kavi Khandelwal

Max Verstappen picked an interesting week to get sentimental about Red Bull. Speaking to the media in Budapest ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the four-time world champion described his relationship with the team in strikingly warm terms, saying "this team is like a second family to me". He added that he was still working to understand the car better and wanted to get back to winning ways. It's a soft, almost sentimental line — and it lands in the middle of arguably the messiest few months of Verstappen's Red Bull career.

A season that's tested the relationship

The RB22 has spent most of 2026 as the third-fastest car on the grid, behind Ferrari and Mercedes, as Red Bull works through the growing pains of building its own power unit for the first time. The car has picked up a reputation for a twitchy rear end, with fans nicknaming a flexing rear-wing quirk the "Macarena" wing. Verstappen sits seventh in the championship and is still without a win through ten rounds — his longest win-less start to a season since his rookie years. Frustration boiled over at the British Grand Prix, where Verstappen crashed out of the race and let rip an X-rated rant over team radio about the car. A few weeks later at the Hungarian Grand Prix, after Lando Norris took his maiden win of the year, Red Bull principal Laurent Mekies was seen in an animated conversation with Verstappen's father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen — with Mekies breaking off mid-discussion to follow Verstappen back to the motorhome. Red Bull has since apologised to Verstappen internally for the car's recent reliability failures. Against that backdrop, Verstappen was noticeably guarded on the subject of his contract, saying only that "there's nothing to say because there's nothing going on" right now. He's contracted to Red Bull through 2028, but that deal reportedly contains exit clauses that could be triggered this summer to allow him to leave at the end of the year.

The McLaren rumours won't go away

That contractual detail is precisely why the McLaren speculation has refused to die. The theory gaining the most traction in the paddock is a straight seat swap: Verstappen to McLaren, Oscar Piastri to Red Bull, in a domino move triggered by Piastri's form dropping off after leading the championship for much of last season. McLaren CEO Zak Brown has pushed back on the idea directly, pointing out "I've got two drivers in the seats" when asked what McLaren could actually offer Verstappen. Lando Norris, for his part, didn't shy away from the hypothetical of Verstappen as a teammate, suggesting he backs himself against anyone on the grid — a hint that the idea isn't being dismissed inside the team as easily as Brown's denial suggests. Verstappen himself has declined to engage with the specifics, telling reporters he wasn't going to involve himself in the speculation. That non-answer, paired with Red Bull's public admission it is "keeping very close tabs" on Haas's Oliver Bearman as a possible Verstappen replacement, has done little to cool the story. If anything, the fact that Red Bull is quietly lining up a contingency plan reads, to much of the paddock, as confirmation the team is taking the McLaren threat seriously rather than dismissing it.

Reading the "second family" line

Set against all of that, Verstappen's comments in Budapest look less like a throwaway soundbite and more like a deliberate signal — whether aimed at calming his own team, discouraging McLaren, or simply buying himself time. He was careful to note that results have started to turn, pointing to "an upward trajectory" after a podium at Spa-Francorchamps, and said he hoped strong weekends would come more often than just once. He isn't the only frontline driver keeping his cards close to his chest. Fernando Alonso, enduring his own miserable season at Aston Martin, has likewise refused to commit beyond this year and has been openly critical of F1's 2026 regulations. Two multiple champions, both technically contracted, both leaving the door open to something else entirely. Whether "second family" turns out to be the language of a driver settling back in, or the last soft word before a harder conversation, will likely become clearer once the sport's three-week summer break ends. The paddock reconvenes at Zandvoort — Verstappen's home race, and the loudest weekend of his year. If a real decision is coming, that stage, in front of a sea of orange, is about as hard to hide from as it gets.