Toto Wolff ‘didn't have any conversations' with Max Verstappen over Mercedes F1 move for 2026

New York Times

19-04-2025

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Mercedes Formula One boss Toto Wolff says there have been no conversations with Max Verstappen about a potential move from Red Bull for 2026.
Four-time world champion Verstappen, 27, is under contract at Red Bull through to 2028, but the team's car struggles in the early part of this season have led to fresh scrutiny over his future.
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Mercedes has previously been linked with a move for Verstappen, and informal talks took place between Wolff and the Dutchman's representatives last summer before both parties agreed not to seriously pursue a deal.
But speaking on Friday in Jeddah ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Wolff said no discussions had taken place with Verstappen over a potential move for next season, and stressed his faith in the existing line-up of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli for the future.
'We didn't have any conversations,' Wolff told The Athletic in an interview. 'At the moment, where it is with George and Kimi, there's no doubt to question that set up for the future, as it goes.'
The question marks over Verstappen's place at Red Bull came after the team's adviser, Helmut Marko, admitted after the race in Bahrain that 'the concern is great' over Verstappen's future amid its current car struggles.
In an appearance on Sky Sports on Friday in Jeddah, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner dismissed the speculation as 'noise.'
Asked if Verstappen would be in the Red Bull car for next year's Australia season-opener, Horner replied: 'Yeah, absolutely.'
Wolff said at the Australia season-opener that Verstappen was not on his radar for a potential move, and that the team's focus was on Russell and Antonelli.
Antonelli, 18, stepped up to F1 this year as a rookie, while Russell, 27, has raced for Mercedes since 2022. Both are products of its young driver academy.
Russell is out of contract at the end of the year, but he has produced some excellent performances to score three podiums in the first four races. The results leave him just six points behind Verstappen in the standings, stepping up to lead the team following Lewis Hamilton's exit for Ferrari.
Wolff said that Russell was 'in his prime, or at the beginning of his prime, clearly the senior driver here in the team that delivers, that performs, that says the right things. And (he) has taken over that role from Lewis.'
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Those performances have not prompted Wolff or Russell to look at bringing contract extension talks forward from their planned start date of the summer months, with both parties remaining relaxed about the outlook.
'We will pick those talks up once we're in the European season, there's no stress,' Wolff said.
'He's performing to the highest levels, as we have hoped and expected. He's delivering, there's no doubt about that. There's not more you could demand from that. We have this summer window. We have no reason to challenge or question anything as it is now.'
James Vowles, the current Williams team principal who served as Mercedes' motorsport strategy director before taking up his existing role at the start of 2023, told reporters on Friday in Jeddah he did not think Mercedes should consider a move for Verstappen.
Vowles said that Verstappen 'comes with a lot of downsides as well,' adding: 'I think what Mercedes does have is a great culture with two drivers that are delivering near to the peak of the car, and with one (Antonelli) that is on the way up. 'So personally, I don't think that's the place for him.'
Another team that has been linked with a potential move for Verstappen if he were to leave Red Bull is Aston Martin, which is bankrolled by billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll and categorically denied a report in January that it was planning a big-money swoop for Verstappen.
Speaking in a news conference on Friday, Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell noted that it had two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, 'signed for the next two years. That means I can just focus on improving the business and the art of making a fast race car.'
Asked if that meant there was no room for Verstappen in 2026, Cowell said: 'I'm saying that my head's full of improving the company so that we can make a fast race car for Lance and Fernando.'
(ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)