Possible reunion of former teammates Verstappen and Perez at Mercedes in '26

It's no secret that Toto Wolff is particularly enamoured with Max Verstappen and still entertains the possibility that the Dutchman will come to Mercedes after the current season. However, this is not the case at the moment, since Verstappen has stated multiple times that he has no intention of leaving Red Bull.

Who knows what will happen if the future perspective at Red Bull becomes more clouded and the four-time world champion decides to seek his fortune elsewhere, as his entourage would like to see? In that case, it is not ruled out that Verstappen could come across an old acquaintance at the German racing team.

GPblog has learned that Sergio Perez could be a candidate for the position of third driver at Mercedes. This is provided that Valtteri Bottas, who currently holds this position, leaves to become one of the Grand Prix drivers at Cadillac, for example. The Finn is one of the candidates for a seat at the new team, just like Sergio Perez.

Perez is considering his options for 2026. His management spoke with Cadillac and initiated a meeting with Alpine.