Zak Brown has dismissed talk that Max Verstappen could follow Gianpiero Lambiase to McLaren, telling reporters in Miami that he is firmly committed to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Lambiase, Verstappen's race engineer at Red Bull since 2016, will join McLaren as Chief Racing Officer at the end of 2027. The decision has stoked silly-season speculation that the four-time world champion could end up at Woking too.
The McLaren CEO did not bite.
"I couldn't be happier with our driver line-up," Brown said. "Lando and Oscar are not only two awesome guys, on the track, off the track, but as team mates."
When pressed on whether Verstappen could ever be a McLaren driver, Brown left himself just enough wiggle room.
"He's an awesome racing driver, so if a gap opened up that's a different conversation, of course," he said. "I'm happy with what I've got, so I hope I'm not looking for a driver."
Both Norris and Piastri are signed to multi-year contracts. McLaren left Miami as the second strongest team on the grid behind Mercedes.
Brown also gave Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli his flowers.
"I almost kind of feel like he's the championship favourite, sitting here at the moment," Brown said.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has separately mocked the idea of any pre-contract activity, dismissing what he called "mythical pre-contracts" between rival drivers and the team.
Lambiase's exit is being framed by some as the first crack in Red Bull's structure. Brown's message in Miami, though, was that McLaren has the championship-leading constructor, two contracted drivers and no obvious need to chase the most expensive signature in the paddock.
