Oscar Piastri: McLaren driver ‘flattered’ by reports he is Red Bull’s first choice as Max Verstappen replacement | F1 News

Oscar Piastri has described as “flattering” reports suggesting Red Bull have identified him as their No 1 target should Max Verstappen leave the team – but says it came as news to him.

A report from Autosport in the break in races between the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix suggested Red Bull had identified McLaren’s Piastri as their ‘Plan B’ were Verstappen to leave at the end of the season.

Verstappen’s contract at Red Bull runs to the end of the 2028 campaign but there are known to be performances clauses contained in it which would allow the Dutchman, who has repeatedly been linked with a move to Mercedes, to exit earlier in certain circumstances, should he wish.

It is understood he would be free to leave at the end of this season, for instance, were he to be outside of the top two in the Drivers’ Championship by the summer break. He is currently seventh in the standings with six races to go before the August recess.

Verstappen has cast doubt since the start of the season – which heralded a new era of car and engine rules – about whether he will want to continue in F1 at all next year, and made clear over the weekend in Montreal that rule tweaks for 2027 are likely to be required to convince him to stay.

Piastri’s own McLaren contract runs until at least the end of 2028 but, asked in Canada about Red Bull’s suggested interest in him were they to need a Verstappen replacement, the Australian driver said: “It is news to me, yes.

“There’s obviously not been any discussions or anything but it’s flattering, yes. There’s not really much more than that, really.

“Hopefully it proves my stock as a driver, which is a nice thing, but I’m very happy with where I am.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in this team that we’re going to be able to win races and hopefully championships in the future, so I’m very happy where I am.”

During an interview with Sky Sports F1, Piastri added: “I’ve got a good relationship with McLaren, so why change?”

Brown not surprised by interest in McLaren drivers

McLaren have both Piastri and world champion team-mate Lando Norris signed to long-term deals.

Zak Brown, the Woking team’s chief executive, said interest in either of them from rivals would not surprise him.

“I would imagine there’s not a team on the grid that wouldn’t want to have Oscar and Lando driving for them,” Brown told The Athletic.

“My general view, contracts aside, [is] our job is to create an environment where our drivers don’t want to drive anywhere else, or for that matter, our employees or our sponsors don’t want to sponsor another team.

“My job – our job – is to create an environment where you go, ‘Well, you’ve got a contract’. Yes, we have that anyways, for the record.

“But you don’t want to hold someone because you’ve got a piece of paper, you want [them] to go, ‘This is the team I want to race with, the team I want to be on, the team I want to be a mechanic on, the team I want to sponsor’.

“That’s what I want to do, try and create that environment. I think there’s a lot of talent inside McLaren that other racing teams would like to have.”

McLaren endured a frustrating weekend in Canada as their decision to start both drivers on intermediate tyres threw away strong starting positions of third for Norris and fourth for Piastri, with the rain the team expected failing to materialise.

Norris then retired because of a gearbox issue, while Piastri ended a place outside the points in 11th after earning a penalty for causing a collision with Williams’ Alex Albon.

Next up is the start of Formula 1’s European summer swing, with the Monaco Grand Prix the first of six races in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from June 5-7. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime