F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026 Media Day: Verstappen Refuses to Commit as McLaren Junior Deal Emerges

Max Verstappen arrived at Spa-Francorchamps and shut down every version of the same question. Asked for an update on his future, his answer was one word. Asked what he made of the speculation, he gave another. The timing matters. Verstappen confirmed in the same press conference that he’s taking on a driver-development role with McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck, run through his own Verstappen Racing operation. Elsewhere on Thursday, Alex Albon explained Williams’ upgrade problem, Esteban Ocon marked ten years since his Spa debut, Charles Leclerc named Mercedes favourites again after his Silverstone win, Kimi Antonelli rated his own championship-leading season, and Liam Lawson arrived off a run of points finishes.

Key Points – F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2026 Media Day

• Verstappen declines to clarify his Red Bull future while confirming McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck has joined his Verstappen Racing driver-development operation.
• Albon says Williams’ upgrades are adding performance without closing the midfield gap, with the next update due in Baku.
• Ocon marks ten years since his Spa debut with Manor and says Haas have new parts on the car after failing to hold midfield pace at Silverstone.
• Leclerc names Mercedes favourites again at Spa despite his Silverstone win.
• Antonelli rates his championship-leading season eight and a half out of ten.
• Lawson says he’s driving with more confidence after scoring in seven of the last nine races, with Racing Bulls arriving at Spa carrying new upgrade parts.

Max Verstappen

Verstappen gave the room almost nothing on performance and even less on his future. Asked what to expect from Red Bull at one of his favourite tracks, he said he didn’t know and would rather not think about it too much. Austria strong, Silverstone disappointing, and no pattern he was willing to explain. Red Bull have reverted to the old-specification rear wing at Spa, a decision he called obvious without expanding further.

On his future, the questions kept coming and the answers stayed brief. No. Nothing. When pressed on full commitment to Red Bull for 2026, he fell back on the same line rather than add to it.

The same press conference also confirmed Verstappen’s first move into driver development. He’s taking on a role with Dries Van Langendonck, a 15-year-old currently racing in British Formula 4 and still part of McLaren’s junior programme. He described spotting the talent in karting, guiding him “hand in hand with McLaren’s side,” and called it an exciting project to be part of. Motorsport.com reported the arrangement runs through Verstappen’s own Verstappen Racing operation, with Van Langendonck’s McLaren development role continuing alongside it.

On loyalty, when asked directly what the word means to him, his answer stayed on Red Bull. He talked about a relationship built over years, calling it a second family, and said everything with Laurent Mekies has felt positive since the Frenchman stepped in as team boss a year ago.

None of that resolves anything about where he’s racing next year. Verstappen’s answers on his own contract stayed as brief as they’d been all day.

Alex Albon

Albon was straightforward about where Williams sit since Monaco. No single trend explains the tough run. Other teams keep bringing upgrades, Williams brought a smaller one at Silverstone, and it worked, but the gap to the midfield cars around them is now big enough that a working upgrade still isn’t enough to fight with them.

He pointed to a late start on this year’s updates and fewer upgrades than the teams around Williams as the root cause, alongside factory changes still working through the system. The next upgrade lands in Baku, targeted mainly at weight rather than a single headline gain. He was clear it isn’t expected to be transformative on its own, with downforce still an area Williams know they’re behind on. Simulator work has already shifted toward next year’s car, run in parallel rather than instead of this one.

Esteban Ocon

Ten years since his Spa debut with Manor, and Ocon didn’t dress the anniversary up. The team and the car have both changed since that first weekend racing drivers he used to watch on television. The motivation hasn’t. He called it crazy that a decade had passed and said it plainly: he did a good job, because he’s still here.

The present tense was more difficult. A tough run as a team, chasing performance, new parts arriving this weekend. He pointed to Silverstone as proof the car had a ceiling that got extracted properly, an early climb to P11 that couldn’t be held against the midfield pace around him. He rejected any comparison to the underfunded Manor team he joined in 2016, pointing instead to last year’s late-season development run that got him to seventh in Abu Dhabi as the more useful reference for how Haas operate now.

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc came in off the back of his Silverstone win still working out exactly why it happened. Good on that one track, not yet proven anywhere else. He said plainly that a win doesn’t settle anything on its own, that the work since Silverstone has been trying to understand why the car suddenly clicked so he can reproduce it rather than treat it as a one-off.

Asked directly whether Ferrari or Mercedes arrive as favourites, he didn’t hedge. His view hadn’t changed from before Silverstone. Spa suits Mercedes the way Silverstone did, and Antonelli being off his usual pace on the Sunday was part of what let Ferrari through. Mercedes remain the favourites this weekend in his own assessment.

Spa carries weight for him beyond the timing sheets, his first Formula 1 win and the memory of Anthoine Hubert both sitting somewhere in the same visit every year. He also spoke about recent testing at the Madring circuit, calling it a cool layout with a demanding banked corner, while being careful to note the dirt on track during those laps made it hard to judge properly.

Kimi Antonelli

Antonelli leads the championship and was asked to grade his own season at the roughly halfway point. He didn’t reach for a perfect score. Australia FP3 cost him a proper qualifying set-up. Japan produced a win after a poor start, with safety-car timing helping bring him back into contention. More recently, track limits in the Miami Sprint, qualifying in Barcelona and qualifying in Spielberg all made his list of moments that fell short.

On the run of bad luck that’s cost both Mercedes drivers points recently, he didn’t try to shift blame or downplay it. Both he and Russell have lost results to circumstances outside their control, reliability the team’s clearest weakness this year and something he said Mercedes are working hard to fix. Away from the track, he spoke about meeting Roger Federer in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, taking away one piece of advice in particular: focus on what you can control, and manage the emotions that lead to mistakes.

Liam Lawson

Lawson’s Thursday started away from the championship entirely. A run in Bruce McLaren’s GT40 at Goodwood the previous weekend carried obvious emotional weight, and he explained why in personal terms: growing up in New Zealand with the Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon history close to home, and relationships with people who knew both men.

On form, he pointed to scoring in seven of the last nine races as evidence the car is working and the team is finding the gains it’s chasing. He credited experience for a personal step forward this year rather than a single change, and confirmed Racing Bulls arrive at Spa with new upgrade parts, weighted more toward Hadjar’s car than his own, with a cautious hope for another double points finish.

Coffee Corner Take

I flagged caution early when word first broke that Verstappen’s management might be talking to McLaren. Nothing from Thursday closes that story down, and Motorsport.com’s report on Van Langendonck joining Verstappen Racing adds a real new detail to it, even if it doesn’t answer the actual question.

Verstappen is approaching the point in the season when reported performance clauses in his Red Bull contract could become relevant. When a driver reaches that point, a good management team explores what’s out there. That’s the job. It doesn’t mean a deal is close and it doesn’t mean anything is signed. It means the people paid to protect his career are doing exactly what they’re paid to do, quietly, while their driver says the right things in public and gives nothing away.

Van Langendonck joining Verstappen Racing while remaining inside McLaren’s junior programme is an unusual arrangement, and it also marks Verstappen’s first move into driver development similar to what we have seen Fernando Alonso do. His own operation will provide additional support and guidance alongside Van Langendonck’s existing McLaren role. That’s all it is. What it doesn’t do is establish any link between Verstappen’s own Formula 1 future and McLaren’s F1 team, just the same as his team racing Mercedes cars, and I’m not going to pretend it does.

Everything else on Thursday was more straightforward. Albon being upfront about Williams sitting in a real rebuild is honest but a concern given 2026 was supposed to be the year it all came together for Williams. Ocon celebrates ten years against a backdrop of speculation in a season where the results haven’t matched the effort, and Leclerc named Mercedes favourites straight after winning at Silverstone in a statement that should tell you how much he trusts the data over a single result. Antonelli marking himself down to eight and a half despite leading the championship, and Lawson’s Goodwood story, both deserve more space than a single Thursday allows.

But Thursday once again belonged to the driver who said the least. Verstappen gave one-word answers on his own future and several sentences of detail on someone else’s. It matters. It just doesn’t prove anything, but the smart money is that Max and Red Bull at the moment is a story which isn’t ending just yet.