If Max Verstappen goes to market this summer, one name keeps surfacing at the front of the queue: McLaren.
Per GPFans' silly-season roundup, fresh reports position McLaren as favourites to swoop for Verstappen should he decide to test his options — a scenario his Red Bull exit clause could make possible after the Hungarian Grand Prix. It is not hard to see the logic. A Verstappen move only makes sense to a team that can hand him a car capable of winning, and McLaren has that.
The obvious snag is that McLaren's seats are hardly empty, which is why the same rumor mill floats the idea of a swap rather than a simple signing. Nothing here is confirmed, and McLaren has made no public move. But the fact that the paddock's strongest team is being linked at all tells you how seriously Verstappen's availability is being taken. Treat it as what it is — a well-sourced rumor about the biggest domino in the 2027 market, not a done deal.