{"id":37168,"date":"2025-08-30T03:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T07:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37168"},"modified":"2025-08-30T03:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T07:24:11","slug":"toto-wolff-doesnt-write-off-signing-max-verstappen-in-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/08\/30\/toto-wolff-doesnt-write-off-signing-max-verstappen-in-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff doesn’t write off signing Max Verstappen in the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toto Wolff<\/a> explored Max Verstappen’s availability at the beginning of the year, especially as Red Bull’s form began to sharply decline.<\/p>\n

In the build-up to the summer break, a clause in Verstappen’s contract meant he might become available for 2026.<\/p>\n

Should the Dutchman have been 4th or lower in the standings at the summer break, he could have explored alternatives.<\/p>\n

However, still 3rd in the Championship after the Hungarian GP, this scenario did not play out.<\/p>\n

Still, this does not mean Wolff has abandoned hopes of Verstappen in the long-term.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Max Verstappen in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wolff unapologetic about pursuing the best drivers<\/h2>\n

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris<\/a> are the first teammates to fight for the Championship in almost a decade.<\/p>\n

The last time two drivers at the same team fought for the crown was in 2026, when Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battled at the front.<\/p>\n

Toto Wolff spent several years watching on as his drivers fought intensely for the title.<\/p>\n

On a few occasions, such as Spain 2016, this dynamic spilled over and created headaches for the Mercedes team principal.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is why the 52-year-old was happy keeping Bottas<\/a> alongside Hamilton for so many years.<\/p>\n

With that said, Wolff is no stranger to putting two top drivers alongside each other.<\/p>\n

He demonstrated this again this year, where he pursued Max Verstappen in a bid to get his signature.<\/p>\n

Whilst ultimately unsuccessful, Wolff’s intent to have a Verstappen-Russell or Verstappen-Antonelli combination was clear.<\/p>\n

In either scenario, Mercedes would have to relinquish one of their drivers to make way for the Dutchman.<\/p>\n

As he explained to the media in Zandvoort<\/a>, however, Wolff views it as his obligation to enquire about a driver of Verstappen’s calibre:<\/p>\n

“It is my obligation as a team principal here to explore what a 4-time World Champion is going to do in the future and what his situation is.<\/em><\/p>\n

“And any driver out there will say that Max, as it stands, is probably the best. That’s not a secret.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Every team needs to go for the best driver – sometimes you can’t have the best at the moment.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Sometimes you need to wait for the time, and sometimes you need to develop the best.<\/em><\/p>\n

“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.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Dutch Grand Prix, Friday, Richard Pardon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mercedes contract extensions still negotiation phase<\/h4>\n

From Wolff’s perspective, it is not difficult to understand why Verstappen is such a priority target<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it would be inaccurate to say hie advances haven’t impacted his current drivers.<\/p>\n

George Russell, for example, spent months watching on as Mercedes negotiated with Verstappen.<\/p>\n

This delayed his own negotiations, with Russell preferring to spend the summer thinking about his F1 future – rather than directly going into contract talks.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, the British driver will want guarantees in his contract to avoid being in the same position again.<\/p>\n

If Mercedes produce a winning car in 2026, Russell does not want to be worrying about his position<\/a> within the team.<\/p>\n

This is why the 27-year-old has insisted any agreement reached must be on the right terms.<\/p>\n

Of course, Toto Wolff still wants to have some flexibility over the coming years.<\/p>\n

Whether that means putting Russell or Antonelli<\/a> on a short-term deal remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

In any case, the Mercedes team principal makes no apologies for trying to assemble the best partnership possible:<\/p>\n

“Yeah, it’s difficult. But these guys have learned to perform under pressure, and George is the first to acknowledge that he just needs to constantly perform.<\/em><\/p>\n

“If he constantly performs, then the team has no reason to ever doubt his position. We need the two best drivers in the car.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I’m not afraid of having the two best in the car. <\/em><\/p>\n

“We’ve had that situation with Nico and Lewis, and that is going to continue to be my plan for the future, whatever the driver combination can be.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Main photo: Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images (Red Bull content pool)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toto Wolff explored Max Verstappen’s availability at the beginning of the year, especially as Red Bull’s form began to sharply decline. In the build-up to the summer break, a clause in Verstappen’s contract meant he might become available for 2026. Should the Dutchman have been 4th or lower in the standings at the summer break, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,121,78,720,2399],"class_list":["post-37168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-mercedes","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-verstappen","tag-wolff"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37188,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37168\/revisions\/37188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}