Max Verstappen is the most dominant driver in F1 today, guiding Red Bull to consecutive world championship wins in 2021 and 2022. Now a Red Bull legend in his own right, there was a time when Verstappen was a true fanboy of Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff’s wife Susie Wolff.
Susie Wolff is one of the biggest pioneers of women in motorsports and remains the last female driver to participate in an F1 race weekend. She drove for Williams at the 2014 British GP free practice session. Verstappen was a close follower of the 40-year-old’s racing career with his messages of good luck that was sent to Wolff resurfacing over social media.
Very proud to step up to Official Test Driver with @WilliamsRacing in 2015. Onwards and upwards! pic.twitter.com/IBhlRbskmD
— Susie Wolff (@Susie_Wolff) November 28, 2014
On Twitter, Anja shared compiled screenshots of old Tweets sent out by Verstappen. All of these were sent out in 2014, the year Verstappen made his FP1 debut in F1 at the Japanese GP weekend. Verstappen’s messages to Susie Wolff included birthday wishes and good luck being sent her way ahead of her outing with Williams in Silverstone.
Here’s your reminder that teenage max was a susie Wolff fan 🙂 pic.twitter.com/XY2BpquSCK
— ⁸¹ ¹ || famous era (@mon_ca3) May 14, 2023
When Wolff posted a picture of herself on Twitter before going on a holiday, Verstappen replied saying, “Enjoy :)”
@Susie_Wolff have fun :))
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) August 4, 2014
Max Verstappen simping over rival boss’ wife
Of course, Verstappen was a young 15-year-old talent back when his tweets were sent out. No one could foresee the amount of trouble he was going to cause to Susie Wolff’s husband in the future, during the 2021 F1 world championship.
Toto and Susie Wolff tied the knot in 2011, and have gone on to become arguably the biggest power couple in racing today. While Wolff led Mercedes to seven world championship titles, Wolff revolutionized women’s involvement in motorsports. She also had a successful stint as team principal of Venturi racing.
Currently, Susie Wolff is the marketing of F1 Academy, a racing venture, which features 15 of the world’s most talented young female drivers, who look to break barriers for women in motorsports.
Verstappen and Toto Wolff’s rivalry
Verstappen rose up to the challenge of dethroning Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton in 2021. The Briton had dominated the sport along with the Silver Arrows for far too long, and when Red Bull gave Verstappen a car that could challenge for wins on a consistent basis, Verstappen didn’t look back.
Throughout 2021, he and Hamilton went toe to toe in a title battle for the ages. It included multiple on and off track incidents that led to exchanges of verbal jabs between both Verstappen, Wolff and other members of both teams.
In the end, Verstappen prevailed after winning the season finale under controversial circumstances, much to Toto Wolff’s anger and dismay.
