Toto Wolff fires cheeky reminder over Max Verstappen's racing future
Photo: Race Pictures
Connor Andrews is Formula 1 and MotoGP writer for GPblog and various outlets. Having worked in motorsport for 15 years for leading companies, he has interviewed the sports biggest names and attended multiple Grands Prix.
Toto Wolff was keen to send Red Bull a cheeky reminder about Max Verstappen’s racing future.
Verstappen surprised everyone before his home Grand Prix in Zandvoort by recommitting to Red Bull until 2030.
The new deal ends years of speculation, with Mercedes CEO and team principal Wolff publicly flirting with Verstappen during the 2024 season once Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari was confirmed.
George Russell even confirmed talks between Mercedes and Verstappen, but eventually his form and the emergence of Kimi Antonelli meant that - according to Verstappen - it was a choice between Red Bull and retirement.
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However, there will be allowances for Verstappen so that he can continue racing in other events, particularly GT3, where he drives a Mercedes.
Wolff was keen to point that out when discussing the new mega contract to Viaplay.
Wolff reminded everyone that Verstappen will still be driving a Mercedes (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool)
Toto Wolff spots Mercedes twist in Verstappen's Red Bull deal
“We have the best of him, he's driving our Mercedes on the really important races,” Wolff said.
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“The Nordschleife and maybe there’s going to be a few more, so he’s staying in the family.”
“We have the best of him, he's driving our Mercedes on the really important races."- Wolff on Verstappen
Asked about the deal itself, Wolff paid compliment to Verstappen’s agent, Raymond Vermeulen.
“Well, what can I say?” he replied. “I'm sure that Raymond’s done a very good job, let's see.”
Wolff was in fine spirits after Mercedes took sprint pole through Russell, while Antonelli showed good pace despite damage to his car.
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Keeping the mood high, he even poked fun at his driver’s big engagement announcement.
Wolff jokes Russell engagement helped deliver Zandvoort pole
“[It was] strong from George coming back like this after the summer break,” he remarked.
“I think it's just relief that she accepted his marriage [proposal] and that probably was heavy on his shoulders before the summer break.
“So that's out of the way, and some really solid work today and he put it on pole.”
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Commenting on Antonelli’s issues, he added: “We lost about 20 points [of downforce], so that's a massive loss.
“But we managed to patch it up, and it came back to what it was before. It was just a tiny mistake in Turn 11. He had just pushed the entry a little bit too deep, and that was the difference.”
Wolff finished: “I think if you have a good start, it's quite difficult to overtake here. But the Ferraris have shown an incredibly strong long run in FP1, so we don't really know what to do with that.
“Kimi could be strong again, but our two are a bit separated now, so it's less stressful for us.
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“Kimi was fast in free practice; he'll be okay, but let's see. The Ferrari had something which was odd, it was half a second quicker than everybody else.”
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