Max Verstappen's father, Jos, has hit back at McLaren boss Zak Brown's recent comments.
Over the last year, a lot has been made about Verstappen's Red Bull future after the Milton Keynes-based team suffered a sudden dip in form mid-way through the 2024 season.
Despite the loss of performance, Verstappen managed to fend off Lando Norris to claim his fourth Formula 1 world title.
The Dutchman has previously been linked with the likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin and Williams.
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Speaking recently, McLaren boss Brown boldly claimed that Verstappen will leave Red Bull this year and join Mercedes.
He said to The Telegraph: "Oh I think he’ll leave at the end of this year, most likely to Merc.
"There’s been talk of Aston Martin, too, with Adrian Newey joining. But as great as Adrian is – and he’s the greatest ever – you need a whole team around you. You need the culture. That takes time."
Brown continued: "If I was betting, I’d bet on Merc."
However, Verstappen's father, Jos, has reportedly hit back at those claims.
Jos Verstappen hits back at McLaren boss Zak Brown
As reported by The Express, Jos commented on Auto Sport's social media post to dispel the rumours.
He wrote: "He only is trying to steer s**t."
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Verstappen said: "[There are] a lot of unknowns, I would say. Of course, this is quite a different layout and we have different, new tarmac here now.
"It’s a Sprint weekend, so not a lot of time to adapt, so we will have to see how the car is going to respond to that. I hope that it will be in a good window and then we will try to do the best job we can."
When asked about McLaren's pace, the Red Bull star added: "I think it will be tough in general, because they are very fast, very competitive, very all-round. But at the end of the day, I don’t really think about that too much."
Topics: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Formula 1
Marcus Chan