Toto Wolff has revealed that Mercedes have contacted three-time World Champion Max Verstappen over the possibility of joining the team for the 2025 season.
The Silver Arrows have a driver seat available for next year following Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari in March, with Toto Wolff revealing that talks have taken place between Verstappen and the team to partner British driver George Russell for the 2025 season.
Wolff was speaking to Dutch reporters ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix at Zandvoort;
“I thought all through the year that there was a window or that there was a possibility. It wasn’t zero,” Wolff said.
“It’s pretty bumpy ground there still, and not only for performance reasons, but also because of interpersonal issues that we’re all aware.
“By the way, I got on with Jos for all my life. But maybe because we’re a bit similar. And that’s why I thought the door was never completely closed.
“What were the odds of that happening? Maybe they were 10 to one. Nine to one. Still, I didn’t want to give up, but then we together came to the conclusion over the summer that we shouldn’t be waiting for something to happen before committing for 2025… but let’s just continue our job, Max at Red Bull and here at Mercedes taking our own driver decisions – And that was a kind of a joint thought.”
“What I like with Max, Raymond and Jos is that we talk straight. We don’t need to push each other. We have been in this too long; we’ve taken the decision for drivers for next year. This is what our full effort is going into,” Wolff added.
“Hopefully that’s going to be the line-up for 2026 and beyond. But that doesn’t close the door on Max being with us in 2026 or beyond, because we want to still keep all the options open in the same way he does. So what I enjoyed in our conversations is there is never a hidden agenda.
“Somehow I have that feeling [that Mercedes and Verstappen’s paths will cross]. But I don’t know when that could be. Whether it’s ’26, whether it’s three years’ later, I don’t know yet.”
Who will get the 2025 Mercedes seat?
With Verstappen seemingly out of the picture ahead of next year, there’s been plenty of names lined up to be Hamilton’s replacement, driving under the guidance of Toto Wolff in 2025.
One of those is F2 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the PREMA Racing driver is currently in seventh place in the standings on 87 points. The Italian driver won his first F2 feature race around the Hungaroring in July.
Wolff said “Soon, we will confirm who is in the second seat. And what I also said is that the two drivers that are in the car have our full support, 100 per cent. Therefore, I’m entering the season in 2025 with two drivers that we will be given all the opportunity to perform. And that’s why I don’t want to talk about the 2026 driver line-up at that stage because I want to make it work with George and Kimi.”
Horner denies Verstappen’s availability
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 following Friday’s practice sessions, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner spoke about the situation regarding his Dutch driver.
“The situation has been, as we’ve been stating all through the year, that we know what our agreement is with Max, Max knows what his agreement with us is and he’s certainly not available to Mercedes for 2025,” Horner said.
“If they choose to give Antonelli the seat then you’ve got to commend them for taking a risk with a youngster.“
“He never was. So I’m sure whatever options they choose to take, they’ve thought carefully about.”