Verstappen to Mercedes? His manager responds for the first time!

In Austria, George Russell revealed that Mercedes had spoken to Verstappen. According to Vermeulen, this is not as shocking as it seems because in Formula 1, everyone talks to each other. "It is logical that we also talk to Toto [Wolff], just as it is logical that we also talk to A, B, C and D. That we occasionally have a cup of coffee, I don't find that so shocking, but now a whole media circus is being made of it."

According to Vermeulen, that's just Formula 1. One time, the hype is about Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, then Lewis Hamilton is the topic of conversation, and at the moment, Verstappen is the topic. Vermeulen calls it 'a kind of pressure cooker, a build-up of messages and speculations that in such an F1 weekend reach a climax that is not reality'.

GPblog understands that Verstappen has a clause in his contract that could be triggered if he is said to be lower than third place at some point in the summer. Initially, it was not the intention of Verstappen's camp to activate this clause. But there are now scenarios where that has changed.

Vermeulen says he doesn't know where all the stories about Verstappen's clauses come from. "The question is still what will or won't happen. Perhaps nothing will happen. That wouldn't be strange in itself. It has happened before that performance clauses were triggered and then it blew over. But we can't give a hundred percent clarity about next year now, no. Nobody can."

Toto Wolff has indicated that he will only be able to provide clarity on who will drive for Mercedes in 2026 in the summer. Vermeulen understands this. Verstappen's manager also emphasized that he and the Red Bull Racing driver are pushing for the performance of this year's car.