Could it work if Verstappen wanted to go to McLaren? F1 Q&A

Image source, PA Media Image caption, Max Verstappen has spent his entire F1 career as part of Red Bull, making his debut with Toro Rosso in 2015 before being promoted to the senior team the following year Published 15 minutes ago The battle for the drivers' championship has tightened up as Formula 1 prepares for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli's lead over Mercedes team-mate George Russell has narrowed to 25 points with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton a further seven point back. Before the race at Spa-Francorchamps, BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions. I'm struggling to see how Max Verstappen could go to McLaren. They never have a number one driver and last year Max was laughing at McLaren's decisions when trying to be fair to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, such as the swap in Monza for a slow pit stop. Max isn't going to accept a team order to let his team-mate past to keep things fair (like he didn't in Brazil in 2022). Surely it would tear McLaren apart if he went there? - Tim The first thing to say here is that McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown has done everything he can to dismiss the idea of Max Verstappen moving to McLaren in the foreseeable future. Brown said at the British Grand Prix that the talks he had recently with Verstappen's management "didn't go anywhere", that he was "very happy with my two racing drivers" and "what I couldn't offer him (Verstappen) was a seat in my race car". Be that as it may, Verstappen and his management are exploring their options and McLaren are a team they are considering. Verstappen is under contract to Red Bull until the end of 2028, but has a performance clause in his contract that is likely to mean he could leave at the end of this year if he wanted. That clause does not come into effect until October, so there is plenty of time before anything is likely to happen, and sources have told BBC Sport that Verstappen has made no decisions as yet. Could it work if Verstappen wanted to go to McLaren? Well, first of all, Brown would have to find a way to remove one of his current drivers, world champion Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri. If he managed to do that, the fundamental basis of McLaren's philosophy is fairness. Their drivers are allowed to race each other and the team will only intervene in specific circumstances, such as those that arose a few times last year. It's fair to point out that this is a different approach from the one that has traditionally been adopted at Red Bull, but it's the same one as used by Mercedes, another team with which Verstappen has had talks. Neither would change their approach were Verstappen to join the team, but why would he have a problem with it? I'm sure he would back himself to win any fight with any team-mate he came up against. Equally, any team who takes on Verstappen would be aware that they would be taking on a level of stress they might not experience with any other driver, and that it would test their