Nah I don’t think it’s untrustworthy exactly, I think it’s very deliberately coming from Max’s camp lol

Like exit clause activating after Hungary is real, and the Monaghan/Lambiase departures are real but “Max to McLaren is imminent, Oscar’s out” reads like Max’s camp using the press to spook Red Bull’s shareholders

look at how McLaren handled Daniel in 2022 for comparison. when they actually wanted him gone they didn’t spend months denying it, they were publicly courting Alex Palou, Zak was openly saying at Monaco that Daniel hadn’t met expectations and throwing around the “mechanisms” line for ending his contract early. they WANTED the chaos because it helped clear the seat. Right now it’s the total opposite—every single denial from McLaren has been immediate and pretty emphatic. they’re straight up calling it hot air

The driver situation inside Woking doesn’t line up either cause last year McLaren dropped Ugo, Stenshorne, Badoer, and Dunne walked because they couldn’t guarantee him funding or a path to F1. Fornaroli’s only reserve because Dunne left, and even he’s got basically no route to a seat with Lando and Oscar locked down long term. They seem pretty committed to their current line up.

Then there’s the $$$ angle. Carlos claimed Max’s contract exempts him from normal sponsor activations, which doesn’t really fit McLaren’s entire business model of drivers doing partner work like it’s a second job. Max literally joked last year McLaren couldn’t afford his asking price ($65m) and if we take a look at estimates for 2026 grid salaries…

Max Verstappen: $76m ($65m salary + $11m bonuses)

Lewis Hamilton: $70.5m ($70m + $0.5m bonuses)

Lando Norris: $57.5m ($18m salary + $39.5m bonuses)

Oscar Piastri: $37.5m ($10m salary + $27.5m bonuses)

Max earns more than Lewis while doing about a tenth of the marketing. I could buy two Oscar Piastris for the price of one Max Verstappen lmao

and if Max signed for McLaren he’d probably expected to participate in their endurance programme too. His current Red Bull deal lets him do whatever he wants outside F1, including driving for a literal competitor like Mercedes-AMG (even if Ford’s silently seething about it). I genuinely cannot see Max agreeing to fly to San Francisco days before the season finale to do an uncomfortable, dead-eyed stage presentation for enterprise B2B software just because Zak signed a new corporate sponsor

Also Max actually likes drinking Red Bull

Mat Coch, PlanetF1’s editor (if Max has Erik van Haren then Oscar has this guy) said this