Max Verstappen emerged as the prime candidate for Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton announced he would be leaving for Ferrari in 2025. Toto Wolff, the Silver Arrows’ team principal, has been trying his best to woo the three-time world champion, but things don’t look too promising for him. Recently, he conceded that not being able to sign the Red Bull driver won’t be the end of the world.
Wolff addressed the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the 2025 Mercedes seat in a recent interview. While Verstappen remains an option for him, there are other names on their list too. Toto Wolff wants to be fair to each candidate and not play games with any of them.
As quoted by Motorsport Week, the Austrian said,
“I want to be fair to these guys and not make it look like we are playing chess with humans because we are not doing that.”
Following reports of internal turbulence at Red Bull, rumors surrounding Verstappen feeling unsettled in Milton-Keynes emerged. Taking full advantage of the situation, the 52-year-old started flirting with the idea of signing him.
‼️‼️Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff on Toto Wolff’s courting of Max Verstappen in the media :
” . . … pic.twitter.com/rBDaHMC6PG
— sim (@sim3744) May 5, 2024
However, Wolff wants to slow things down now and take a more measured approach to gauging the best option. Meanwhile, Adrian Newey’s departure from Red Bull has given way to another avenue of poaching for the Brackley-based outfit.
With Wolff claiming to see a flurry of Red Bull CVs in his inbox, the latter’s team principal Christian Horner came back firing.
Christian Horner claps back at Toto Wolff for his comments
According to McLaren boss Zak Brown, Newey leaving Red Bull is the “first domino to fall” with regard to the instability in Milton Keynes. Per a report from Planet F1, Brown (like Wolff), revealed that a number of Red Bull employees are approaching him.
Wolff confirmed these rumors, and said,
“Zak [Brown] is absolutely correct. We are seeing Red Bull CVs through all the levels.”
“I would be a bit more worried about the 220 than maybe one or two CVs” — Christian Horner on Red Bull #F1 taking hundreds of Mercedes HPP employees as he hits back at Toto Wolff and Zak Brown.
Full quotes https://t.co/wNweNhey35
— Pit Debrief (@PitDebrief) May 8, 2024
These comments did not sit well with Horner, who remained adamant that he isn’t worried. He also reminded Wolff that he poached over 200 employees from Mercedes. In contrast, he reveals that “one or two” CVs went Wolff’s way.
The instability at Red Bull doesn’t seem to be going away. However, with Newey now gone, Red Bull will be wary of losing out on Verstappen, who in the current driver market, will be nearly impossible to replace.
