Webber rubbishes ‘nonsense’ Piastri McLaren split speculation

Piastri’s future has been dragged into persistent rumours recently surrounding Verstappen and his increasingly uncertain position at Red Bull.

Several reports have suggested Verstappen’s management explored potential opportunities at McLaren, despite both Piastri and reigning world champion Lando Norris holding multi-year contracts with the team.

Any move for Verstappen would therefore require McLaren to replace one of its current drivers, with speculation increasingly focusing on Piastri after reports raised the prospect of a direct swap with Red Bull.

That has left the Australian facing repeated questions over his future, prompting his manager Webber to firmly reject suggestions Piastri is attempting to engineer an exit.

“Oscar is contracted to McLaren for the foreseeable future,” Webber told RACER.

“Talk of him agitating to leave is nonsense.

“There has been a lot of fiction written about him and other teams… McLaren have repeatedly said they want him for the long term and Oscar is focused on that.”

The rumours intensified following reports McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown had met with Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen before the Austrian Grand Prix.

Both parties denied the meeting involved negotiations over a potential move, but the speculation continued as questions grew over Verstappen’s future at Red Bull.

Piastri also reaffirmed his commitment to McLaren during the British Grand Prix weekend, insisting he had received assurances over his position within the team.

“I’ve got a contract in place, multiple reassurances that the team are very happy with me and I’m very happy with the team,” he said.

Brown has similarly maintained that McLaren has no vacancy to offer Verstappen, repeatedly expressing his satisfaction with Piastri and Norris.

“I’m very happy with my two racing drivers, Lando and Oscar,” Brown said at Silverstone.

“And I think any time a name like Max is thrown around everyone gets pretty excited – a four-time world champion – but I’m very happy with our driver line-up.

“I haven’t really thought about [what I could offer Verstappen] because I’ve got two drivers in the seats. So, what I couldn’t offer him was a seat in my race car.

“[Any talks] didn’t go anywhere. I’ve got my two drivers, so there’s nothing to report.”

Verstappen remains contracted to Red Bull until 2028, although reports have claimed his deal contains a release clause connected to his championship position at the mid-season break.

The Dutchman sits seventh in the 2026 drivers’ standings following an inconsistent start to the new regulatory era for Red Bull.

Its struggles have contributed to questions over whether Verstappen will remain with the team, particularly after rear wing issues were blamed for incidents during the Austrian and British Grand Prix weekends.