Toto Wolff admits Mercedes are in talks to sign Max Verstappen

Telegraph

27-06-2025

Pressed on Russell's comments, Wolff said: 'We are going into territory I don't want to discuss here. People talk, people explore and, most importantly in our organisation, we are transparent. But it doesn't change a millimetre my opinion of George, his abilities or anything else.
'I like what George says and I am supportive of the driver. We are transparent in the team as to what we do and how we plan and we have been like that since I was in charge so that is not the issue. At the moment, clearly, we need to explore what is happening in the future.
'But it doesn't change what I think about George, or Kimi or the line-up that I am extremely happy with.'
When asked whether he has held 'tentative talks' with Verstappen's representatives, however, he said: 'Yeah. You make it sound like we have been asking, 'When do you want to join and what are the terms?' That's not how it is and how it works. I want to just have the conversations behind closed doors, not town halls.'
Verstappen break clause could be key to future
Verstappen as good as told Telegraph Sport in May that he would stay at Red Bull for 2026, revealing he had 'told his team' that he would stay. But if the four-time champion has since lost confidence in the team ahead of next year's huge regulation changes, all bets are off.
Verstappen is rumoured to have a performance clause in his contract, which could be triggered if he is not in the top three in the drivers' championship by the summer break. His father, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, also has a strained relationship with Horner.
Verstappen's own strained relationship with Russell is one possible fly in the ointment. The pair have clashed on many occasions. Verstappen has also traditionally had a defined No 2 next to him and would probably prefer to partner Antonelli.
Asked whether he could imagine a Russell-Verstappen pairing, Wolff smiled. 'I can imagine every line-up,' he said. 'I had [Nico] Rosberg and [Lewis] Hamilton fighting for a world championship so everything afterwards is easy. There are pros and cons having two drivers fight each other hard and we have seen examples where they have functioned and others where they didn't.'
Asked whether he was back to flirting with Verstappen again, and whether something had changed to make him do so, Wolff again smiled. 'No, nothing has changed, there is no flirting in that sense. It depends how you categorise that. You can flirt, or you can have conversations.'