13/03/2025
NEWS STORY
Toto Wolff insists that he is no longer pursuing Max Verstappen, as he aims to renew George Russell's contract in the summer.
Amidst the fall-out that followed the Horner saga last year, which - whatever spin they put on it - saw a number of high-profile departures from the team, a clear loss of performance from the car and intense speculation over the futures of Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen, there was understandable interest in the Dutchman should he decide enough was enough.
Toto Wolff has admitted to holding talks with Jos Verstappen and Max's manager, Raymond Vermeulen, but subsequently opted for Kimi Antonelli, who, we are told, he had actually decided upon "five minutes" after learning of Lewis Hamilton's departure for Ferrari.
With George Russell's current contract ending this year, and Red Bull not showing any genuine signs of being in a position to allow Verstappen to add to his tally of title, it is understandable that the Dutchman might still be on Wolff's 'shopping list'.
Not so, insists the Austrian.
"I think we've said it pretty clearly last year, and he said the same," Wolff told reporters in Melbourne. "We need to concentrate on our driver line-up, we need to do the best that we can.
"I don't flirt outside if I'm in a good relationship, and that is true for this year, too," he added. "At the moment that is not on any, let's say, radar," he insisted. "I don't like to shift my concentration away from these guys."
Asked specifically about Russell, Wolff said: "We have had a chat a few weeks ago about what the right timing would be to liaise. I'm someone who sticks to what he says, and these two are the combination that I want to go forward with Mercedes. I have no other reasons to doubt that.
"We're going to find some time, I guess before the summer. I need to be careful what I say to you, because you will, every month probably, ask when have those discussions happened. But we will do that in a timely manner, without disrupting the season."
Asked how it feels, for the first time since 2013, not to be heading into the season with Hamilton, Wolff replied: "I think it felt less different, to be honest, because we got used to it over the course of the season.
"And there was this moment, Lewis showing up in red for the first time... I really liked that picture," he added. "For 12 years, I've said it often, I tried to put him in a suit, and then the first night out with the new one, he's putting the suit on and a tie. But Lewis and Ferrari is iconic. I think the sport benefits from it, and from a personal level we wish him to be in a happy place.
"At the same time it just fell into place," he said of his own line up. "It seems so natural, it's what we've been thinking of for almost a year's time.
"Kimi's been with the team such a long time, also testing Formula 1 cars, this is just what it is. We're living in the moment, we're living for the future, and the past is great history, there isn't any better driver-team combination, and we will always cherish this. But now this is the future."