Max Verstappen replaces George Russell at Mercedes? Toto Wolff gives his honest opinion

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed that the team has not had any talks with Max Verstappen to replace George Russell or become a part of the team in the future. The discussions around the Dutch driver’s future have been making the rounds throughout the race weekend, which stem from a poor race weekend in Bahrain.

After Red Bull’s dominant season in 2023, where the team lost just one race, the downfall has been drastic. The team lost to McLaren in the Constructors’ championship last season, and even this year, it looks highly unlikely that the car can catch up to the Woking-based squad.

Max Verstappen, on his part, was able to drag his Red Bull to the title in 2024, but this season, the car appeared to be in a worse condition. As a result, the driver is third in the championship. This has led to Helmut Marko agreeing that the Dutch driver’s future with Red Bull looks dicey.

Since last season, Max Verstappen has been linked with both Aston Martin and Mercedes. Toto Wolff was questioned by The Athletic if his team had any conversation with the Red Bull driver as a possible replacement for either George Russell or Kimi Antonelli. The Austrian denied any such thing and said:

“We didn’t have any conversations.. At the moment, where it is with George and Kimi, there’s no doubt to question that set up for the future, as it goes.”

Praising George Russell’s evolution since Lewis Hamilton left, Wolff said:

“Russell is in his prime, or at the beginning of his prime, clearly the senior driver here in the team that delivers, that performs, that says the right things. And (he) has taken over that role from Lewis.”

Wolff not looking at Max Verstappen as he gets ready to sign George Russell

George Russell’s contract comes to an end this season, and surprisingly, the driver has not signed an extension yet. This has led to suggestions that Wolff could look at Max Verstappen and his position in the driver market before taking a call.

The Mercedes boss poured cold water on all of this as he said that he would have a conversation with Russell for an extension in the European leg of the season. He said:

“We will pick those talks up once we’re in the European season, there’s no stress. He’s performing to the highest levels, as we have hoped and expected. He’s delivering, there’s no doubt about that. There’s not more you could demand from that. We have this summer window. We have no reason to challenge or question anything as it is now.”

While this could potentially mean that the Max Verstappen to Mercedes rumors would end, the Dutch driver’s future would continue to be a talking point throughout the season.

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Charanjot is an F1 writer and Content Specialist at Sportskeeda with over 5 years of experience covering news, trends, and analyses related to the sport.

He started watching F1 when Narain Karthikeyan made his F1 debut in 2005 and was hooked when Kimi Raikkonen delivered a stunning lap in Monaco in the same season. He has been with the firm for almost 4 years and tries his best to put his links in the F1 paddock to the best use so as to report relevant and accurate information.

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If given a chance, he would like for India’s Buddh International Circuit to be added back to the calendar. A Mechanical engineer and an MBA, Charanjot aims to spearhead the cause of making F1 a mainstream sport in India. Apart from F1, he also follows MotoGP, cricket and MMA.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam