Toto Wolff, Mercedes Formula 1 boss, believes that Mercedes and Max Verstappen are bound to collaborate “at a certain stage”. He also revealed his “number one pick”, Red Bull driver, to replace Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen’s contract with Red Bull is valid till the end of 2028. Hamilton announced to part his way with Mercedes to join Ferrari next year. It sparked the speculations that the Dutch could replace him at the Mercedes.
The ongoing controversy around Christian Horner and Jos Verstappen also fueled the speculations. The chaos at Red Bull grew stronger when speculations point Helmut Marko, Red Bull advisor, as information source to the press.
But Verstappen jumped in and associated his future at team to the Austrian. Additionally, the Dutch contract has a “Marko clause”, which allow him to exit the contract if the Austrian departs.
All this lead to fuel the idea of Verstappen at Mercedes amid the major power plant regulations.
Wolff believes that “extraordinary” Dutchman “needs to happen at a certain stage” for Mercedes.
Read More: Sainz hails “rollercoaster” Australia F1 win after surgery
He added: “We have a slot free, the only one in the top teams – unless Max decides he goes. Then the slot is not going to be free with us anymore.”
Mercedes’ decision “depend on what Max does” but team would decide around summer.
Verstappen and Mercedes had a chance to begin the journey in 2014 but the latter could not offer a topflight seat.
Wolff said, “I’d seen him in Formula 3; he was very good. I have a good relationship with his father, so we sat down in my home in Vienna and said, ‘What can we do?’.
“I wasn’t able to give him a Formula 1 seat and I said, ‘Let’s do F2 together, fully funded and I guarantee you a seat next year in the car’.
“They said, ‘I have an offer from Red Bull for [Toro Rosso] basically from now on’. That was it. I knew that we wouldn’t be able to compete with that.
“Half into the next season [in 2016], he replaced [Daniil Kvyat] at Red Bull and took the seat.”
Wolff added: “Exactly. So, it’s a kind of a relationship that needs to happen at a certain stage, but we don’t know when.”
