Max Verstappen sends media pointed message: 'You will hear it from me'

Max Verstappen will no longer "involve" himself with the rampant rumours linking him to McLaren, in what would be a bombshell move from Red Bull.

The four-time F1 drivers' champion's patience with media coverage of the subject has evidently worn thin, insisting, "If there's something new or something that changes, you will hear it from me, not from someone else writing it", ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Arriving at Silverstone for the ninth round of the F1 season, the Dutchman's future is a hot topic of conversation, with the reported exit clauses in his Red Bull contract nearing the point at which they could be activated.

It is understood that if the 28-year-old is outside the top two in the drivers' championship by the summer break, which is just three rounds and 58 points away, he could leave the Milton Keynes-based team at the end of the year, despite his deal running until the end of 2028.

At last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff ruled out the possibility of a swoop for Verstappen, voicing his faith in, and happiness with, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

But although that door — which has been ajar for a couple of years — temporarily closed, speculation tying him to a sensational McLaren switch gained traction.

His long-term race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will join the reigning constructors' champions in the next 18 months or so, and with Red Bull only recently showing signs of fighting for victories again after a difficult start to the campaign, the rumour mill has been working in overdrive.

But Verstappen, whose camp has supposedly engaged the Woking-based squad in discussions, has already had enough of the reports.

"I'm not gonna involve myself in that," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if there was any truth to that speculation. "I said what I wanted to say already before.

"If there's something new or something that changes, you will hear it from me, not from someone else writing it, right?"

Focusing on the job at hand

His manager, Raymond Vermeulen, recently said Verstappen was "not born to compete in the midfield" of F1, and the messaging from the Dutchman's team and Red Bull has been clear: the Laurent Mekies-led outfit must produce a car capable of winning or risk losing its star driver.

Whilst the RB22 has proven troublesome in the early part of the season, the upgrade package delivered by the six-time constructors' champions at its home event in Spielberg catapulted Verstappen back into race-winning contention, which is what he wanted to reflect on.

"So I just focus on the job that I have with my team," the 71-time grand prix winner added. "We are on the way up, so that's really nice to see. I had a really positive weekend in Austria," where he finished second, just 1.6 seconds behind Russell.

"We're just trying to improve from there further, and I know, of course, it can be quite tough; there's a lot of competition, but we're here just to try and go faster."