Wolff wanted Verstappen in 2014: 'But advised to take Red Bull route'

Toto Wolff made a serious attempt to get Max Verstappen to join Mercedes' junior programme in 2014, but in the end the now 25-year-old Dutchman opted for an adventure at Red Bull Racing. Helmut Marko promised Verstappen a seat at the then AlphaTauri and Wolff could not resist that. The Mercedes team boss thus missed out and secretly still regrets it a little.

Wolff and Helmut Marko, both Austrians, tried to contract Verstappen. The latter emerged victorious. Speaking to Motorsport.com Wolff looked back on this topic. He said the biggest "problem" was not being able to offer Verstappen a seat in Formula 1. After all, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both still had long-term contracts.

Red Bull had more to offer

"Max was obviously an interesting guy, but at that time we could [only] offer him a place in GP2 (current Formula 2, ed.) and then maybe a contract. Helmut could promise him a spot in Formula 1 and in the end I also advised him to take that route," Wolff said, thus stating that he himself advised Verstappen to then make the move to Red Bull.

The Austrian formation has been very successful with sister team AlphaTauri (and previously Toro Rosso). Drivers like Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz have all trained there. So it pays for Red Bull to have a second team in the king class of motorsport. Wolff agrees, but he also knows it comes with a hefty price tag.

Wolff points to price tag

Training and being able to see up close how drivers perform at the highest level is a big advantage, as are the Honda engines that were first tested at Toro Rosso, before Red Bull started running the Japanese power units a year later. Wolff: "It is undoubtedly an advantage, but it is a very expensive operation. You have to be able to afford to spend 100 million a season."