Mika Häkkinen: “Max Verstappen to McLaren? Here’s why I think it’s unlikely”

That would be a Formula 1 bombshell on a par with Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari: if Max Verstappen and his management were to decide to leave Red Bull Racing and move to McLaren.

Many people close to Verstappen insist: that won’t happen, because Max is very loyal to and grateful to Red Bull. But we must bear in mind that we’ve seen far crazier things in Formula 1, and we struck the word ‘impossible’ from our vocabulary years ago when it comes to Grand Prix racing.

One person who cannot imagine ‘Orange’ (Verstappen) turning into ‘Papaya’ (McLaren) is Mika Häkkinen. The driver, who has competed in 161 Grand Prix races, drove for McLaren for nine years, secured all 20 of his Grand Prix victories there, and became Formula 1 World Champion with McLaren in 1998 and 1999.

The 57-year-old Finn still has excellent connections at McLaren and says on the Up to Speed podcast: “When I see how McLaren works, they always keep the whole team package in mind.”

“That’s the only way to be successful – you have to build an incredible team spirit. Once you’ve achieved that, as team principal I’d try to minimise the risk. Because certain moves can cause that wonderful team spirit to be lost.”

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“I rate Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri highly. They’re extremely talented racing drivers, very professional, and in my opinion not too emotional. It’s good for a team to have drivers like that under contract because they perform very consistently.”

“If a team like McLaren has two brilliant drivers, why stir up trouble? And McLaren also has a world champion in its line-up. If there’s harmony within a team, why put that at risk by bringing in another driver?”