Toto Wolff says he would 'love' to have Max Verstappen at Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton in 2025 F1 season
Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028 but ongoing scrutiny on the team has led to question marks over the defending champion's future; Lewis Hamilton's shock move to Ferrari means Mercedes have a seat free alongside George Russell for next year's F1 season
Saturday 9 March 2024 22:34, UK
Toto Wolff says he would "love" to have Max Verstappen at Mercedes in the future after the Red Bull driver admitted he would leave the team if something "crazy" happened.
Ongoing scrutiny on Red Bull following the conclusion of the investigation into Christian Horner, which resulted in allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against the team principal by a female colleague being dismissed, has led to questions around Verstappen's future.
The three-time world champion told Sky Sports F1 on Friday his future depends on Helmut Marko staying at the team but the 80-year-old insists he will remain in his role as motorsport advisor after holding talks with Red Bull GmbH managing director Oliver Mintzlaff on Saturday.
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Lewis Hamilton's departure to Ferrari for 2025 leaves a seat open at Mercedes and Wolff is open to having Verstappen at his team, despite the recent rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes.
"I would love to have him [Verstappen]. But first we need to sort out our car. We owe it to our drivers George and Lewis to improve the car and give them equipment that is good before dreaming about the future next year," said Wolff.
"I think we are going to wait on a decision. We have a few interesting options. The more we are able to assess how the season pans out, young drivers, slightly older ones, that's not going to be a decision we want to take in the next few weeks, it's rather a few months depending on where it goes."
Asked if Verstappen is number one on Mercedes' list to replace Hamilton, Wolff added: "This is a decision that Max needs to take and there is no team up and down the grid that wouldn't do handstands to have him in the car."
Wolff: Verstappen will want to be in fastest car
In Bahrain, at the start of March, his father Jos Verstappen claimed Red Bull are "in danger of being torn apart" if Horner remained as team principal.
Horner said he was "certain" Max Verstappen would remain with the team until the end of his deal, after agreeing "to move on" following the public dispute with the world champion's father, Jos, ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP.
Wolff thinks Max Verstappen will make up his own mind on what his future is rather than his manager Raymond Vermeulen or father Jos Verstappen.
"A driver will always try to be in the fastest car that gives you the best chances of winning races and championships. That's where Max is at the moment," said Wolff.
"But Max, Jos and Raymond (Vermeulen) are people that are very straight, sometimes uncomfortably straight. That's something...they will make up their mind but fundamentally a racing driver is calibrated to be in the best car."
Horner: I have no doubt about Max's commitment
Verstappen has raced for Red Bull since joining F1 in 2015. He first competed for the sister team, then known as Toro Rosso, before making the switch to Red Bull in May 2016 mid-season.
He won on his Red Bull debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix to become the sport's youngest F1 race winner at 18 years and 228 days.
Horner agreed with Wolff that the best drivers will "always want to be in the best cars".
"You can never say never. If a driver doesn't want to be somewhere, then they'll go somewhere else," said Horner.
"But, as a team, I can't see any reason why anybody would want to step out of this team. I think he's got great support around him and he's doing a wonderful job with a great car."
He continued: "It's like anything in life. You can't force somebody to be somewhere just because of a piece of paper.
"If somebody didn't want to be at this team, then we're not going to force somebody against their will to be here. And that applies whether it's a machine operator or a designer or somebody in one of the support functions, that runs through the business. Being involved in a team like this involves commitment and passion, and Max has that.
"We've seen that, he's been here since he was 18 years of age and I have no doubt of his commitment and passion going forward, but that's very much the way it is."
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