Max Verstappen's future at Red Bull Racing appears to be reaching a decisive point, with Planet F1 reporting a deal is set to be reached between the four-time world champion and McLaren. Multiple prominent sources have described it as imminent, with Oscar Piastri moving to Red Bull as the most likely outcome.

Planet F1, alongside Dutch publication De Limburger, has now reported on a meeting in Austria earlier this month at Red Bull's headquarters. Max Verstappen sat down with senior shareholders Mark Mateschitz from the Austrian minority side and Chalerm Yoovidhya from the majority Thai ownership. As per the report:

That refusal has created internal fractures within the Milton Keynes operation. Mateschitz has indicated a desire to cut ties, unlike CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, who wants to retain Max Verstappen until 2030. The sticking point on both sides is loyalty. Red Bull believes that it has earned more commitment from a driver it has paid and supported for a decade.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen's camp has reportedly lost faith in the team's direction regardless of the management changes made after Christian Horner's removal. His third DNF at Silverstone has compounded the situation. It has ended any realistic possibility of the Dutchman sitting inside the top two of the standings before the summer break. That is the threshold required to prevent his exit clause from activating the day after the Hungarian Grand Prix later this month.

Oscar Piastri is in a complicated position because of what happened last season. The Australian held a lead of more than 100 points in the summer, only to fail to podium across seven consecutive races, allowing Lando Norris and Verstappen to overtake him in the final stretch. That late-season collapse is said to have made his seat the vulnerable one rather than Norris'.

The scale of departures from Red Bull over the past two years adds to the speculation. Adrian Newey moved to Aston Martin, and Jonathan Wheatley went to Sauber. Rob Marshall, now McLaren's chief technical officer, is set to be joined by Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase next season as well.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have addressed the Max Verstappen speculation at Silverstone. Piastri said:

Norris, whose seat is the more secure of the two as the reigning champion, was openly welcoming of the idea in principle:

The F1 calendar now provides a week's gap before the Belgian and Hungarian Grands Prix run back-to-back, ahead of the summer break in late July. That stretch is expected to be when the decision crystallizes publicly, one way or another.

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