Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff hasn’t hidden his desire to sign three-time world champion Max Verstappen, who still has four years left on his Red Bull contract. Christian Horner, however, couldn’t help but remind Wolff that to sign a driver of Verstappen’s caliber, he needs to have a strong car whereas Mercedes right now is trailing behind two of their customer teams.
Verstappen being reportedly unhappy with the turmoil at Red Bull has been a topic of chatter among the F1 community. Team principal Horner, however, does not believe in those rumors. He has repeatedly insisted that the Dutchman will fulfill his contractual obligations with the Milton-Keynes-based outfit. Responding to Wolff’s claims that he wants to lure Verstappen away to Brackley, Horner said (as quoted by RacingNews365),
“Mercedes are the third team behind their customers at the moment, so I would think his [Wolff’s] time would be better spent perhaps focusing on the team rather than the driver market.”
P18➡️P9
Up nine places in the Chinese GP and securing some valuable points pic.twitter.com/EyAXjSfPul
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 21, 2024
Horner’s dig was a painful reminder to Wolff and Mercedes that they don’t stand amongst the elite in F1 at the moment. The once-dominant Silver Arrows are languishing in the midfield, with McLaren and Aston Martin (their customer teams) outperforming them in recent outings.
Wolff knows that he needs to conjure something special to convince Verstappen to leave Red Bull. However, after the Chinese GP, this could prove to be more difficult than initially thought.
Slim chances of Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull for Mercedes
In China, Mercedes’ weaknesses were on full display once again. They started on a good note, securing a P2 finish in the Sprint Shootout and the Sprint race thanks to Lewis Hamilton. Just hours later, however, Hamilton and Mercedes re-entered the slump they momentarily got out of.
Hamilton qualified in P18 for the Grand Prix and found it immensely difficult to make up places in the race. Thanks to multiple safety cars and a few retirements, the 39-year-old was able to put his car into P9 and bring home two points for Mercedes. But, this is not close to the level, a seven-time world champion like Hamilton expects.
Four wins out of five for Max
Celebrate our #ChineseGP win with 20% off Max merch on @RedBullShop ️
Use the code Max20
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 21, 2024
Verstappen on the other hand, dominated proceedings from the get-go. He won the Sprint race, and earned pole for the Grand Prix. In the latter, there was no doubt about who would emerge victorious, as Verstappen brought home his fourth win of the season.
Red Bull is expected to dominate the rest of this campaign and potentially, the next one too. On the contrary, Mercedes are in a world of pain with their performance slump worsening. This would make it difficult for Wolff to help fulfill Verstappen’s race-winning ambitions, as the German team have a steep mountain to climb.
