Wolff refuses to sign Verstappen: 'We don't want another Star Wars'

Despite the fact that Max Verstappen has a multi-year contract with Red Bull Racing, there is a lot of talk about a possible switch to Mercedes, should Red Bull no longer be able to deliver a competitive car. Many wonder how Verstappen and Hamilton would measure up to each other in the same material.

Many call it the 'duel of the century': Lewis Hamilton versus Max Verstappen at Mercedes. However, Toto Wolff doesn't want this to happen. He looks back to the clash between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2016 where once Rosberg got tired of playing second violin, he regularly had a fight with Hamilton, resulting in the infamous crash in Barcelona in 2016.

Star Wars

Star Wars was the name of the duel between the two. But in that case, the duel between Hamilton and Verstappen could be called 'War of the Worlds.' Wolff doesn't want that.

"With the knowledge I have now, that's no longer an option," says Wolff in the Formula 1 podcast Beyond the Grid. "We will never understand exactly what happened in the relationship between Nico and Lewis. It goes back a long way, to Their karting days and junior classes.

"We saw how their friendship turned into rivalry, and then hostility. That dynamic of what happened between them was very difficult to understand. It started when I joined the team in 2013, and from there it got worse and worse," said Wolff.

“That was very difficult to deal with. At team meetings, there was a very negative energy in the air. At one point we reached a point where it was no longer acceptable, and then we talked about it. But the hostility between the drivers remained."

The arrival of Valtteri Bottas was a relief for the team. I"t's refreshing that we haven't had this since Valtteri joined us."