Now Verstappen has firmly committed to Red Bull for 2026 and the dust has settled after an intense silly season episode involving the four-time world champion, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff can take his time to finalise contract extensions with his own proteges – George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with no rush to sign on the dotted line.
The story of how Wolff coveted Verstappen as far back as 2014, but lost out to fellow Austrian Helmut Marko’s offer of an immediate F1 graduation from F3, is well known by now. The rest is history, with a rapid ascent to Red Bull’s main team and four world titles as a result.
But when cracks started to appear in Red Bull’s armour last year and grew into structural fractures, Wolff was keen to explore if uniting with Verstappen was possible after all, especially now his own multiple world champion Lewis Hamilton has moved on to Ferrari.
That exploration went nowhere as Verstappen decided to commit to Red Bull for 2026, which Wolff reveals was more down to loyalty than any contractual clauses. Speaking to select media at the Dutch Grand Prix, including Motorsport.com, Wolff said. “Max will have his reasons why he’s staying at Red Bull. What he said is he owes them. And it’s not the first moment you can walk away when the team doesn’t perform. Beyond the contract. So I think things have fallen in place like they are today, and who knows what happens in the future. But the integrity that he has shown to his team and the integrity that I and the team have shown to our drivers, I think that’s important.”
George Russell, Mercedes, Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
What that means is that Wolff has tried to be as transparent as possible with Russell and Antonelli about what was at play and why, and that he would have been negligent if he had at least not sounded out what has been the best F1 driver of his generation.
“That’s what I said to George,” Wolff added. “It is my obligation as a team principal here to explore what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future and what his situation is. And any driver out there will say that Max, as it stands, is probably the best. That’s not a secret. And every team needs to go for the best driver. Sometimes you can’t have the best at the moment, sometimes you need to wait for the time, and sometimes you need to develop the best. And for me today, what we have is a very good combination, and let’s see what it is in two or three years. It may be different.
“It never came to the situation where it was like: ‘Okay, we are going to do this’. Neither on Max’s side, nor on my side. It was never that one dimension of ‘have we got a shot’? It was more: ‘Does that make sense from the Mercedes perspective? And does that make sense from the Verstappen perspective?’
“Could that mean our paths will never cross because the timings are wrong? Well, that can happen, yeah”
That dalliance did cause some awkwardness for Russell in particular, who was equally transparent to the media over what was happening and therefore had to field a barrage of questions every week on his future and on Verstappen.
“Yeah, it’s difficult,” Wolff nodded. “But these guys have learned to perform under pressure, and George is the first one to acknowledge that he just needs to constantly perform. And if he constantly performs, then the team has no reason to ever doubt his position. We need the two best drivers in the car. I’m not afraid of having the two best in the car. We’ve had that situation with Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis, and that is going to continue to be my plan for the future, whatever the driver combination can be.”
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
But even if Russell – Antonelli develops into a world beating driver pairing, wouldn’t missing out on Verstappen feel like a missed opportunity? The Dutchman has already indicated he won’t stay in F1 for a very long time, after all, so any suitors are on the clock.
“Well, we get on personally so well,” was Wolff’s reply. “When you’re on the same wavelength, it just feels easy and that’s what I see in the relationship. His views on racing or on other things in our lives are very aligned. Could that mean our paths will never cross because the timings are wrong? Well, that can happen, yeah. But that could be a 50 percent [chance]. The other 50 percent is that we are racing together at a certain stage in our careers, if it is right for both sides.”
That timing could well be right in 2027, when everyone will have a good idea of who has made the best start to the radical 2026 rules shake-up, who might be getting there in the short-term, and who is well and truly off the pace. Whoever has the best chassis and power unit combination will surely have the pick of the drivers anyway.
One reporter suggested Verstappen staying put for 2026 could end up being profitable for Mercedes, as whoever has the best chassis and power unit combination will surely have the pick of the drivers anyway for 2027.
“Hopefully us. And then I only need to pay 10 percent!,” Wolff said in jest. “And that’s exactly what I said to Raymond [Vermeulen, Verstappen’s manager].
“I think that for all of the best drivers money is not the essential objective. The essential objective is to have a car and a team that can make you win world championships. And then comes the debate about the money. I’ve always been of the opinion that you need to pay a driver fairly, whatever that means, whoever the benchmark is. So, we’re always going to find a solution if the stars are aligned. Best team, best drivers. And then you find each other.”
In this article
Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics
