標籤: McLaren

The Max Verstappen will-not-be saga got fresh fuel this week, and this time it’s coming from someone who has been inside the paddock long enough to read between the lines.

The four-time world champion has Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes on his shortlist if he triggers a performance-based exit clause buried in his Red Bull contract, former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner told Casino.org. With Red Bull fourth in the constructors’ standings and Verstappen having scored all but four of the team’s 30 points, the conversation is no longer theoretical.

“In my opinion, Max can only go to 3 teams: Ferrari, McLaren, or Mercedes,” said Steiner. “But is there anything available at the moment? Probably not, but will they make something available for Max Verstappen? That’s the big question.”

Max Verstappen Where there is smoke, there is fire

That’s why it’s not just empty frog chatter. Verstappen is technically contracted to Red Bull until 2028, but the deal reportedly includes a performance-based exit clause. Most relevant: If Max is not in the top two in the drivers’ list during the summer break, the door opens for an early departure at the end of the season.

Right now, that door is wide open. Red Bull are fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with just 30 points after four rounds. Verstappen himself is seventh in the drivers’ standings, and has scored all but four of the team’s points. The car is a problem. The trajectory is worse.

Steiner pointed to recent history as a template for how this might change. Ferrari sidelined Carlos Sainz to make room for Lewis Hamilton. Top teams free up seats for generational talent. They just do.

“Just look back at when Ferrari let Carlos go, who was doing a good job, because the goat came Lewis Hamilton,” said Steiner. “So, I think there needs to be something like that, but that’s what Max will be looking for.”

Each team in the shortlist has its own complexities. Mercedes have been linked to Verstappen for years through their relationship with Toto Wolff, although that discussion has cooled recently, partly because Kimi Antonelli currently leads the championship and George Russell is going nowhere. Ferrari already have Hamilton and Charles Leclerc under contract. McLaren has defending champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the two drivers that most American fans will name first if you ask them who is actually winning races at the moment.

But in the case of McLaren there is a dilemma worth noting. GP Lambias, Verstappen’s long-time race engineer and the calmest voice he has ever heard in his ear, is leaving as chief racing officer at Woking until 2028. It’s no coincidence that anyone in the paddock thinks it’s a coincidence.

“He’ll look at these three teams and talk to them,” Steiner said, “but I don’t think there’s any team that is focused on him.”

Translation: Max is shopping. The only question left is whether anyone is actually ready to buy. With the summer holidays still a few months away, expect the noise over Verstappen’s future to grow before it subsides. Red Bull’s recovery deadline is the real deadline, and right now, they are way off track.

Scott Gulbransen, a quintessential expert in the field of sports journalism, serves as an editor, nfl , mlb , Formula 1…More about Scott Gulbransen

The 2026 Chinese Grand Prix delivered the kind of Sunday that reminds you why you started watching this sport. A 19-year-old Italian won his first Formula 1 race. Finally Lewis Hamilton stood on the podium in red. And the reigning world champion never reached the starting grid. Two races into the most comprehensive regulation overhaul in F1 history, the 2026 season already has its first star, its first feel-good story and its first real crisis.

Here are our winners and losers from the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.

Winner: Kimi Antonelli | mercedes

Nineteen years old. First Formula 1 win. The youngest Grand Prix polesitter in the history of the sport. And he did it the hard way: losing the lead to Lewis Hamilton off the line, fighting back through two aggressive Ferraris, and then completing a 56-lap race in Shanghai without a support net or any experienced teammates to hand him over.

Antonelli has been the subject of much discussion ever since Mercedes appointed him to the seat vacated by Hamilton. Hype has a way of crushing young drivers who aren’t ready for it. He looked ready. There was a scary moment late – a huge lockup at Turn 14 with four laps remaining that sent him deep into the runoff – but he kept it together, maintained the gap, and crossed the line 5.5 seconds clear of George Russell. Antonelli is the second youngest race winner in F1 history behind Max Verstappen. For American fans attending this game, remember the name. You’re going to be saying this a lot over the next decade.

Loser:McLaren

There’s no easy way to frame this. Both the cars did not start. Not one. Both.

Lando Norris never made it to the grid. Oscar Piastri, who has now failed to start a race in both rounds of 2026, was taken back to the garage before the formation lap with a separate electrical failure on each car. Two different problems, two different cars, same disastrous result.

McLaren won the Constructors’ title last year and arrived in Shanghai as one of the teams capable of making it a four-way championship battle. Right now, they have zero points in two races and a reliability crisis that should worry everyone at Woking. The 2026 power unit rules are clearly causing headaches across the paddock but no one’s headache has been that bad.

Winner: Lewis Hamilton ferrari

He is waiting for 26 races for this day. His first podium in the Ferrari red suit finally came in Shanghai, and he earned it the way you’d want the greatest driver of his generation to earn it – wheel to wheel, aggressive, lively. Hamilton led the race on the opening lap after a promising start from third on the grid. He battled with Russell for the lead, swapping positions several times, and when matters calmed down, he was in third place behind the two Mercedes drivers, who had the fastest packages on the day.

The inter-Ferrari battle with Leclerc in the final stages was the kind of racing that made people fall in love with the sport in the first place. Hamilton later said that it was one of his most enjoyable races in years. At 40, on a new team, in a new era, he still wants that. Don’t let anyone tell you that the Ferrari chapter is already over.

Losers: Max Verstappen and Red Bull

Ten laps from the end, Verstappen was running in sixth place and quietly saving something from a dirty weekend. Then the power unit died. He limped around the circuit for most of the lap before parking, and received his second retirement in two races, which is not necessarily true for a four-time world champion racing for a team with serious reliability concerns in Japan.

The bigger picture here is really worrying for Red Bull. The new Ford power unit reportedly arrives in 2026 with limited working batteries. Verstappen has been vocal about his frustration with the car’s behavior through the corners, and the gap to Mercedes in qualifying has been quite high both weekends. He’s not out of this championship conversation (he never really is), but Red Bull need answers before Suzuka, and they need them fast.

Winner: George Russell mercedes

George Russell leads the drivers’ championship by one point after Sunday’s race and defeat by his 19-year-old teammate. Think about that. Two races, two podiums, a win, a second place, a sprint win in Shanghai, and the fastest car on the grid by a clear margin.

Russell has been methodical, precise and completely professional throughout the first two weekends of the always chaotic new era. Beating Antonelli on Sunday doesn’t diminish what Russell is building here – it actually makes Mercedes’ story better. Two drivers capable of winning races, separated by one point in the standings, are teammates who will eventually have to compromise with each other. When Mercedes brought in Antonelli, Russell knew what he was signing up for. Right now, he’s handling it just fine.

Scott Gulbransen, a quintessential expert in the field of sports journalism, serves as an editor, nfl , mlb , Formula 1 … More about Scott Gulbransen