McLaren CEO Zak Brown Predicts Max Verstappen Will Leave Red Bull After 2025 Season

The 2025 Formula 1 season is just getting started, but there’s already rumors swirling around what might be coming in 2026.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Mclaren CEO Zak Brown stirred the pot a bit, predicting that four-time reigning champion driver Max Verstappen would leave Red Bull at the end of 2025 to join Mercedes.

“If I was betting, I’d bet on Merc,” Brown said of Verstappen’s potential team for next year. “In the last 10 years, they’ve won the championship seven or eight times. Last year they won five races. They have stability. We know [Mercedes CEO] Toto [Wolff] likes him. And I think we all feel HPP [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains] is best-equipped on the power unit side heading into the new engine regulations next year.”

Brown also added that Aston Martin could be a potential destination for Verstappen, as they recently hired former Red Bull top engineer Adrian Newey and put him in charge of building the team’s 2026 car.

Whether Verstappen makes a move will likely depend on how he fares with Red Bull this season. While he has won the Drivers’ Championship four years in a row, last year, McLaren bested Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, and this year, McLaren driver Lando Norris could be ready to usurp Verstappen atop the throne.

That said, Brown’s prediction could also be viewed as an attempt to shake up his rival’s camp. In the same interview, Brown said that his rivalry with Red Bull boss Christian Horner was “genuine.”

“There’s no love lost there. I don’t like how he rolls and no doubt he feels the same about me,” Brown said. “But I think it’s good for the sport. You need different characters. You need these rivalries. Some are friendly, sporting rivalries. Some are a bit more vicious. It’s always been like that.”

With one race in the books in 2025, McLaren currently has the upper hand, with Norris winning the Australian GP last weekend to open the season. Verstappen finished second, less than a second behind.