Will Buxton clears up cryptic social media post saga that sent F1 fans wild

Former F1TV presenter Will Buxton has explained his recent cryptic social media post that caused a stir and sent Formula 1 fans wild.  

On Monday, Buxton, who now works as the lead commentator for the IndyCar Series with FOX Sports, teased that a “massive” announcement was set to be made. 

Buxton’s tweet sent social media into overdrive as fans speculated what the news was, with many F1 fans theorising that it could be related to Max Verstappen’s future with Red Bull. 

What sparked the frenzy even more was the fact Buxton used the same wording as when he teased Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster switch from Mercedes to Ferrari back in early 2024. 

“Hearing a big announcement is on the way before the end of the day. If it is what I think it is, it’s absolutely massive,” Buxton wrote on X. 

It turned out that Buxton’s tease was about legendary IndyCar driver Scott Dixon completing a move to McLaren. 

The saga was brought up on the latest episode of the Up To Speed podcast, which features Buxton and former Red Bull F1 driver David Coulthard. 

“I enjoyed the post-Grand Prix, tweet-tastic saga that you created by coming out, you know, as a very influential person within the world of motorsport, your sort of teaser of some huge news coming out,” Coulthard said. 

Explaining his tweet, Buxton replied: “So, here's the thing, right. A couple of years ago I found out Lewis was leaving Mercedes and he was going to join Ferrari. And I'm like, ‘If I announce what I know, I'm never getting any access to Ferrari ever again.’ 

"So, I did the one thing you should never do, and the one thing that I hate when people do, and I kind of put out a tease, which was like, ‘I've heard there's going to be a massive announcement.’ Like, ‘It's going to be massive.’”

Coulthard was quick to point out: “You did exactly the same wording as you did, so…”

Buxton continued: “After I did that, Liam, who's head of PR at F1, he texts me and he's just like, ‘What have you done?!’ And that was around the Hamilton thing. And anyway, so later that day, Ferrari announced Hamilton. And it's been rumoured for weeks, right? 

“And we even had Zak Brown on the show last week, and he was talking about Scott Dixon, who is IndyCar’s Lewis Hamilton, right? He had been Chip Ganassi for 25 years, won six titles with them, leaving to go to McLaren. It's huge news in IndyCar, because he's been there so long. 

“So, I thought, ‘He's the GOAT, right?’ Same thing as Hamilton. I just thought, ‘I'll just put out the same tweet,’ because it did quite well last time, so I'll put out the same tweet and let people know that there's this announcement happening later today, because McLaren had told us they were announcing it at two o'clock. 

“What I didn't expect was for people to automatically assume it was about Max Verstappen, and I probably should have foreseen that, but I didn't put two and two together!

“After Silverstone and Max retiring again and blah blah blah. Anyway, so I put that out, and then McLaren announced it later on in the day that, sure enough, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, who won the Indy 500 this year, have moved to McLaren. 

“And it's big news in the IndyCar world! I never said it was like exclusive, I never said it was a shock, I just said it was a big announcement, and it was massive, and it was.”

Coulthard interjected to say: “Yeah, but you knew what you were doing, and I also checked your followers on X, and various others, there's 25 million people that reacted to that.”

After correcting Coulthard regarding the figure that his tweet reached, Buxton added: “What I didn't expect was for people to automatically assume it was about Max Verstappen. 

“McLaren announced it later on in the day that, sure enough, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, who won the Indy 500 this year, have moved to McLaren. And it's big news in the IndyCar world. 

"The hope was that it would get eyeballs on this massive announcement for IndyCar.”