Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that there is a 50 percent chance of signing four-time world champion Max Verstappen in the future, ahead of the race weekend at Zandvoort. This comes weeks after Verstappen clarified that he will race for Red Bull in 2026.
Wolff’s interest in Verstappen became public in 2024 when he sought to sign him for the seat that was to be left vacant by Lewis Hamilton. However, with the Dutch driver’s Red Bull contract lasting until the end of 2028, and given his loyalty to his team, Wolff ended up signing rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The matter made headlines again in June 2025, when George Russell broke the news of talks between Wolff and Verstappen. Russell’s contract extension negotiations were reportedly kept on hold for the same reason. The development coincided with Red Bull’s performance challenges, which have caused Verstappen not to lead the Drivers’ Standings for the first time in the current ground effect era since 2022.
The Mercedes team boss acknowledged his interest in Verstappen, but stated that his team will likely head in the direction of signing contract extensions with Russell and Antonelli, a claim that has yet to materialize. The statement arrived after Verstappen made it clear that he will race for Red Bull in 2026, which marks F1’s first year in a new era of regulations where new cars will potentially reset the field.
Now, Wolff has opened up on the saga that unfolded ahead of the summer break, stating that anything could play out in the future with Verstappen. He said:
“Max will have his reasons why he’s staying at Red Bull. What he said is he owes them. And it’s not the first moment you can walk away when the team doesn’t perform. Beyond the contract.
“So I think things have fallen in place like they are today, and who knows what happens in the future. But the integrity that he has shown to his team and the integrity that I and the team have shown to our drivers, I think that’s important.”
Wolff spoke about his discussion with Russell, stating it was his job as a team boss to know what the best driver on the grid was exploring for the future, which led to the talks with Verstappen. He added:
“That’s what I said to George. It is my obligation as a team principal here to explore what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future and what his situation is. And any driver out there will say that Max, as it stands, is probably the best. That’s not a secret. And every team needs to go for the best driver.
“Sometimes you can’t have the best at the moment, sometimes you need to wait for the time, and sometimes you need to develop the best. And for me today, what we have is a very good combination, and let’s see what it is in two or three years. It may be different.
“It never came to the situation where it was like: ‘Okay, we are going to do this’. Neither on Max’s side, nor on my side. It was never that one dimension of ‘have we got a shot’? It was more: ‘Does that make sense from the Mercedes perspective? And does that make sense from the Verstappen perspective?’
“Could that mean our paths will never cross because the timings are wrong? Well, that can happen, yeah.”
Verstappen has previously admitted that he does not plan to race in F1 for a long time. When Wolff was asked about a scenario where their paths did not cross in the future, he opened up about the rapport he shares with the Red Bull driver and revealed a 50 percent chance of a potential partnership. He said:
“Well, we get on personally so well. When you’re on the same wavelength, it just feels easy and that’s what I see in the relationship. His views on racing or on other things in our lives are very aligned. Could that mean our paths will never cross because the timings are wrong? Well, that can happen, yeah.
“But that could be a 50 percent [chance]. The other 50 percent is that we are racing together at a certain stage in our careers, if it is right for both sides.”
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