MELBOURNE – Max Verstappen would be top of Mercedes’ list of possible replacements for seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025, if available, according to team boss Toto Wolff.
The thrice world champion has a Red Bull contract until 2028, but his future has been clouded by a breakdown in relations between his father Jos and team principal Christian Horner.
Mercedes are losing Hamilton at the end of the season to Ferrari, with Australian Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz vacating his seat.
“We have a slot free, the only one in the top teams – unless Max decides he goes and then the slot is not going to be free with us any more,” Wolff told Fox Sports Australia in an interview in Melbourne.
The interview, conducted after qualifying, was not widely picked up at the time but the strong comments drew attention later.
Asked if Verstappen would be the No. 1 pick, Wolff replied: “Yes. You see what his performance levels are, but I wouldn’t want to discount the other ones too.”
Wolff tried to sign Verstappen as a teenager before he joined Red Bull, but the Austrian could not offer him an F1 seat immediately.
He said he had a good relationship with Jos Verstappen and had met at the time in Vienna to discuss possibilities, but the Dutch driver already had an offer from Red Bull at that point.
“It’s a kind of relationship that needs to happen at a certain stage, but we don’t know when,” he said, when asked if signing Verstappen could close a circle.
Wolff also mentioned twice world champion Fernando Alonso, Sainz and Mercedes-backed F2 rookie Kimi Antonelli as possible options.
“Obviously there’s Fernando, who’s very exciting, and Carlos, very good. So there’s a few ones,” he said.
Verstappen has not ruled out a move to Mercedes in the long term, but said in Australia he was comfortable at his “second family” Red Bull and it would be a great story to finish his F1 career with them.
Once-dominant Mercedes failed to win a race last season and suffered a double retirement in Melbourne on March 24, their first since 2018.
Haas, meanwhile, have shown better-than-expected form this term.
Former team principal Guenther Steiner said he was not surprised and suggested they had deliberately talked down their prospects.
New principal Ayao Komatsu warned before the Bahrain season-opener on March 2 that United States-owned Haas, who finished last of the 10 teams overall in 2023, were likely to be running near the back of the field initially.
Kevin Magnussen was 12th in that race before teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished 10th in Saudi Arabia. Both drivers were then in the points with ninth (Hulkenberg) and 10th (Magnussen) places in Australia.
“I actually had it right, where they ended up to be, because I knew the numbers from the wind tunnel where the team should end up,” said Steiner.
“I think at the beginning they played it down to have an excuse for it to start off with, and then it was better than they expected. That is, for me, wrong to do.”
REUTERS
