Mark Webber has denied “nonsense” rumours that Oscar Piastri and McLaren could part ways at the end of the season.
Piastri has been caught up in intense speculation over Max Verstappen’s relationship with Red Bull Racing, which appears to have deteriorated in recent weeks.
Verstappen will get access to an escape clause when he ends the Hungarian Grand Prix outside the top two in the championship. Currently seventh and 78 points off second place, it is mathematically impossible for him to reach the top two in the two races remaining before the mid-season break at the end of the month.
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The Dutch media has reported the Dutchman is increasingly unhappy at Red Bull Racing, which is struggling for consistency and performance under new rules in 2026 and has seen several high-profile members of staff depart over the last three seasons.
Though none of the other frontrunning teams have seats available next year, rumours have linked Verstappen to a possible McLaren drive after CEO Zak Brown was revealed to have met with Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, before the Austrian Grand Prix.
Both sides denied negotiations had taken place during the meeting, but the situation led to some wild reporting about Piastri wanting to quit the team or McLaren preparing to pay out his contract.
Online speculation subsequently exploded when some media identities teased the announcement of Kiwi six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon’s switch to McLaren’s IndyCar team, with some misinterpreting the media build-up to be related to the Verstappen rumours.
But Webber, the nine-time grand prix winner who has managed Piastri since 2019, has rebuffed that speculation, declaring rumours of a Piastri-McLaren split as “fiction”.
“Oscar is contracted to McLaren for the foreseeable future,” he 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.”
Sources close to Piastri dismissed the rumours as “purely speculative” to Fox Sports earlier this week.
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Brown and Piastri have both denied change could be afoot, with each committing to the other over the last fortnight.
“[Conversations with Verstappen’s manager] didn’t go anywhere,” Brown said last week. “I’ve got my two drivers, so there’s nothing to report.
“I’m very happy with my two racing drivers, Lando and Oscar.
“I think any time a name like Max is thrown around, everyone gets pretty excited — four-time world champion — but [I’m] very happy with our driver line-up.
“I’ve got two drivers in the seats, so, what I couldn’t offer him was a seat in my race car.”
Piastri said he had no doubt about the team’s loyalty to him.
“I’ve got a contract in place,” he said. “I’ve had multiple reassurances that the team are very happy with me, and I’m very happy with the team, so for me, I’m very happy where I am, happy with the situation I’m in, and I’m just trying to continue the success that we’ve had in the last few years.”
Some have suggested Verstappen’s agitation over his exit clause — which reportedly he refused to be bought out of in meeting with Red Bull top brass in Austria last month — is because he intends to renegotiate his contract on even more favourable terms.
Speculation suggests the Dutchman earns between US$60 and US$70 million (A$86.3 million and A$100.7 million), making him Formula 1’s highest earner.
However, that contract was signed shortly after he won his first of four world titles in 2021, and his worth has increased since, particularly as the sport’s popularity as exploded.
Speaking at the Austrian Grand Prix — before Verstappen’s close second-place finish at the Red Bull Ring and also his high-speed spin-out in Silverstone — Red Bull Racing principal Laurent Mekies said improving the team’s competitiveness would convince the Dutchman to stay.
“I’m not asking Max every week if he’s going to stay. Max has made clear to us that he wants to continue with the team; it’s equally clear that he needs a fast car for him to be happy with the team,” he said.
“He’s pushing with us. He’s helping us to find the right development path for the car … so it’s not a topic for us.
“The topic for us is get the car back to where we want it to be. If the car is back where we want it to be, there will be no discussion.”
But ESPN and other publications have reported that Verstappen had refused to give the Red Bull hierarchy guarantees he would stick with the team in 2027 prior Mekies’s comments.
Dutch paper De Limburger has reported his refusal to give assurance of his continuity angered administrators at the Austrian drinks company and that a Formula 1 sabbatical or retirement are back on the table.