Brown’s shift arrives on the eve of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, and it goes well beyond the joking banana-peel line he offered in late June.
“I spoke to Max a couple of times last summer. Simply because I wanted to get to know him better,” Brown said in the interview published on 25 September 2026.
His verdict on Verstappen was blunter than anyone in the paddock expected.
“If I had to use one word to describe him now, it would be a word that wouldn’t have occurred to me before those conversations. Namely: charming.”
Read also: Fabian Ruiz: ‘Why not?’ as Ballon d’Or race heats up
“I bet no one who doesn’t know him well would describe him that way. But I’m really impressed by him. A racer through and through.”
Brown names the years
The concrete part is a date. Asked whether the door was closed, Brown pointed to the second half of the decade.
“The door is still wide open for Max. For 2028, 2029, or whatever year.”
“I enjoyed getting to know him better and would love to work with him someday.”
Read also: Jurgen Klopp drops worrying Kai Havertz update after Arsenal star forced off
Brown framed the conversations themselves as low-key rather than a negotiation.
“The talks were more exploratory, to get to know each other better. Because you never know what the future will bring.”
From denial to open door
The tone is a sharp turn. At Silverstone on 4 July, Brown told reporters the reported approaches were “rumours” and that anything there had been “didn’t go anywhere”, adding: “I’ve got my two drivers, so there’s nothing to report”, as RacingNews365 reported.
The week before, at the Austrian Grand Prix, Brown had cracked the line that became the summer’s running joke: only if someone “slipped on a banana peel getting out of the tub” would a seat open up for a four-time world champion, Formula1.com reported at the time.
Read also: Roger Federer names tennis’ best player – and it’s not Alcaraz or Zverev
The rumour cycle itself dates back to the Austrian Grand Prix weekend in late June, when the first reports of informal contact between Verstappen’s camp and McLaren surfaced, according to Motorsport.com.
Norris and Piastri still the plan
Brown has been consistent on one point: he is not moving on his current pair. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri remain McLaren’s drivers, and Brown has repeated across every appearance this summer that he is “very happy” with both.
Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2028, with a performance-based exit clause that could be activated in 2027 if he is not leading the championship by the summer break. That is the technical reason 2028 is the earliest realistic date Brown can name.
The 2026 title race is out of Verstappen’s and McLaren’s hands. Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings on 292 points, 81 clear of George Russell, with Norris fourth on 186, Verstappen sixth on 145 and Piastri seventh on 120, per the official F1 standings.
Read also: Harry Kane opens door to stunning career move
Next on track
Lights out at the Baku City Circuit is at 3pm local time on Saturday, 26 September, the race has been moved forward one day to accommodate Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day, for the fifteenth round of the season.
Read also: Zidane reveals what he saw in Mbappé during Real Madrid trial
