When Lewis Hamilton decided he would join Ferrari, Mercedes was struggling on the track. But the roles have been reversed since, and Mercedes has out-developed the Maranello-based team, at least in this season. David Coulthard wants Max Verstappen to take a look at this move, which could turn out to be a failure for Hamilton.
There have been several reports of Verstappen being unhappy with Red Bull – both on and off the track. As such, he has been heavily linked to Mercedes, a team in dire need of a driver because of Hamilton’s impending departure.
In the Formula for Success podcast, however, Coulthard cautions Verstappen.
“As we’ve seen with Lewis, just because you decide to go somewhere else doesn’t mean you’re going somewhere better. The moment he made the decision to go to Ferrari, they were stronger than Mercedes. “They’ve [Mercedes] been doing a great job. Brilliant comeback from a difficult start of the year. So you’re really rolling the dice of where the future performance will be.”
Welcome back, mad Max! #Verstappen #F1 pic.twitter.com/PA5gnSbJjR
— F1 Radio Messages (@F1RadioMessages) July 21, 2024
Coulthard adds that with the Red Bull contract in place, Verstappen will likely stay at the Milton-Keynes-based outfit until 2028. But the Mercedes links will remain, because of Verstappen’s disdain with Red Bull.
Tensions rise when the team isn’t winning, and Verstappen is the prime example of that. In Hungary, he showcased his frustration several times, punching the steering wheel and giving his engineer an earful when strategy did not work out in his favor.
Meanwhile, Wolff understands that signing Verstappen will be complicated, which is why Kimi Antonelli is becoming the bigger favorite to join the team.
Wolff could choose Antonelli and Hamilton’s replacement
Antonelli, a Mercedes junior, is regarded as one of the biggest talents in racing, and Wolff sees him as a Verstappen of his own in the making. Amidst, the saga involving Verstappen and Red Bull, Joe Saward claims that Mercedes will finally land Antonelli, once Hamilton departs for Ferrari next year.
“It is now virtually certain that Mercedes will soon name Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement in 2025”, wrote Saward in his Blog – Green Notebook. Saward suggested that Mercedes is keeping Antonelli’s test numbers hidden so as not to hype up the youngster.
Antonelli has been performing well in F2 with a recent Sprint race win in Silverstone followed by a Feature race win in Hungary. The Mercedes prodigy is living up to the hype around him.
