Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has confirmed he is in talks to sign Max Verstappen from Red Bull and partner him with Formula 1 rival George Russell.
Despite having a contract until 2028, Verstappen has been continually linked with leaving Red Bull, the team he has driven for almost his entire F1 career.
There have been ongoing reports of tension at the team, including a long-standing feud between team principal Christian Horner and Verstappen’s father Jos, and also questions over whether Red Bull will remain competitive without design genius Adrian Newey.
It is said the four-time world champion has exit clauses in his contract and Aston Martin have reportedly offered the four-time F1 champion a deal worth £226million, but Mercedes are better-placed to sign him.
Wolff has not hidden his admiration for the Dutchman and both of the Silver Arrows’ drivers – Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli – are out of contract at the end of the year.
Ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Russell claimed that the delay over his own contract extension was because Mercedes were in talks with Verstappen.
Wolff has now confirmed that ‘tentative conversations’ have been held with Verstappen’s representatives, telling Sky Sports on Friday: ‘First of all there is no delay in George’s contract negotiations.
‘But also, as a team principal, I’m responsible for the best car brand in the world. It’s clear you need to explore what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future and that could be long into the future.
‘But that has no effect on us putting a signature on George’s contract,’ with Wolff going onto say that Russell was more likely to be a Mercedes driver next year than Verstappen.
This would seem to throw into doubt Antonelli’s future despite the 18-year-old’s impressive performances but Wolff has also said he is ‘extremely happy’ with his current line-up.
While potentially the best on the grid, a Verstappen/Russell partnership could be problematic given the heated rivalry between the two which came to a head a month ago at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen deliberately crashed into the British driver during the final few laps in Barcelona but Wolff claims this would not be an obstacle for him, adding: ‘I can imagine every line-up.
‘I had Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton fighting for a world championship, so everything else afterwards is easy.
‘There are pros and cons of having two drivers fighting each other hard. We’ve seen examples where that functions and other examples where it didn’t.’
What has George Russell said about his Mercedes future?
Following his win in Canada, Russell is an outside bet in the title race behind Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Verstappen.
Asked for an update on his Mercedes contract talks, the 27-year-old told Sky Sports: ‘It’s not something that I’m pressing massively because the performance is the priority, and I feel with the performance I’m showing at the moment, I’ve got zero reasons to be worried.
‘But obviously, it does help if there was pen on paper. But let’s see.’
‘As Mercedes, they want to be back on top, and if you’re going to be back on top you need to make sure you’ve got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best pit crew, and that’s what Mercedes are chasing.
‘So, it’s only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing. But from my side, if I’m performing as I’m doing, what have I got to be concerned about?
‘But there’s two seats at every team and I guess he [Wolff] needs to think, who are those two drivers going to be for those two seats, and I guess that’s what the delay is.’
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