Toto Wolff’s pursuit of Max Verstappen’s signature didn’t stem from Lewis Hamilton’s decision to move to Ferrari in 2025. The Austrian had wanted Verstappen even before his F1 debut, and the now three-time world champion once revealed a bizarre reason for not responding to Wolff.
In an interview from his younger Red Bull days, Verstappen narrated a story about how Wolff had once called him. He corrected himself, revealing that Wolff had actually contacted his dad, Jos Verstappen. But the Dutch prodigy was in the same room.
This was presumably a time when Wolff was trying to get Verstappen on board as a Mercedes junior. However, he could not offer the Dutchman what Red Bull did — an F1 seat for 2015 through Toro Rosso.
When the interviewer asked Verstappen if Jos put the call on speakerphone, Verstappen replied, “No he went outside, I was watching TV, so I didn’t want to get disturbed.” A hilarious response that made everyone present burst out with laughter.
-TOTO CALLED ME
– he called you directly?
– yeah
– What did he say to you?
– well, not to me . He called my dad, I was next to my dad when he called.
– so he put it on speakerphone?
– No he went outside, I was watching TV, so I didn’t want to get disturbed. pic.twitter.com/NC5SA3SEWj— zax (@maybezax) August 26, 2024
Why Verstappen didn’t care about an F1 team principal calling his dad up personally, remained unknown. But because of his talent in the junior series and his reputation, he was almost certain he would get into the pinnacle of motorsport.
Verstappen’s first taste of F1 action came in 2014, when he took part in FP1 of the Japanese GP in Suzuka. A few months later, he would make his debut for Toro Rosso — and just a year and a half later — got into Red Bull.
Fast forward to 2024, and Verstappen is a three-time world champion with the Milton Keynes-based outfit, yet he remains a coveted driver for Wolff.
Wolff’s decision to give up on Verstappen for 2025
Wolff wanted Verstappen to replace on outgoing Hamilton — who moves to Ferrari — in 2025. But after reportedly meeting with the Dutch driver’s camp in the recently concluded summer break, the Mercedes boss decided it was time to give up on that dream for the time being.
Before the Dutch GP weekend, Wolff said,
“We together came to the conclusion over the summer that we shouldn’t be waiting for something to happen before committing for 2025, but let’s just continue our job….”
Verstappen will continue driving for Red Bull, something Wolff revealed was a “joint thought”. Instead of the 26-year-old, Wolff and Co. are set to announce Italian prodigy Kimi Antonelli as their replacement for Hamilton.
