Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes it’s time to stop “flirting” with Max Verstappen now that the team's driver lineup is settled. Following Lewis Hamilton's announcement of his departure from Mercedes at the end of this season, Wolff had several discussions with Verstappen's camp earlier this year about a potential move. He had hoped that the early season challenges at Red Bull, stemming from allegations against team boss Christian Horner and doubts about the team's long-term competitiveness, might encourage Verstappen to consider a switch. However, as those talks stagnated and Mercedes grew more impressed with junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli's testing progress, interest in pursuing Verstappen diminished.
“For me, it's like flirting outside whilst you're making your relationship work. It doesn't work; I'm not flirting outside. Only if I want to have a change, or consider a change, I would seek a conversation. And it is the same on his side. We're pretty aligned in our values on that, I think," said Wolff
While Mercedes views Antonelli as a long-term prospect, the future of George Russell has also attracted attention, with Red Bull suggesting he could be a potential candidate for their team when his contract expires at the end of 2025. However, Wolff sees Russell as a key part of Mercedes for years to come and believes he will embrace the challenge of competing with the young Antonelli.
“George has a similar trajectory in terms of karting and junior formula, and George was the first Mercedes junior that joined us,” Wolff stated. “He's still our Mercedes driver. We don't make a big difference [between him and Antonelli]. Emotionally, we give them the same support. Nothing changes. Every top driver in F1 knows that he needs to compete against their team-mate, whether he's young or old. George's team-mate has been Lewis Hamilton, the greatest driver of all time, for three years. So he will be just fine competing against one of the youngest, who comes in with great expectations," added Toto.
Dutch Driver Max Verstappen is currently leading the 2024 Driver Standings with Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT. He has 331 points in the standings 52 points ahead of Mclaren's Lando Norris who is second while Charles Leclerc is third.
