Toto Wolff reveals summer talks with Max Verstappen over F1 2025 drive

Toto Wolff has revealed he held talks with Max Verstappen’s camp over the summer break about the possibility of him joining Mercedes for F1 2025.

Mercedes have been publicly courting Verstappen for several months in the hope they could lure the three-time world champion to the team as Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.

Wolff insisted he believed there was a possibility that Verstappen, who is under contract until the end of 2028, could be signed amid the turmoil inside Red Bull during the early part of the season. However, he has now accepted that will not happen in 2025.

"I thought all through the year that there was a window or that there was a possibility. It wasn't zero," Wolff told Dutch media at Zandvoort.

"It's pretty bumpy ground there still, and not only for performance reasons, but also because of interpersonal issues that we're all aware.

"By the way, I got on with Jos for all my life. But maybe because we're a bit similar. And that's why I thought the door was never completely closed.

"What were the odds of that happening? Maybe they were 10 to one. Nine to one. Still, I didn't want to give up, but then we together came to the conclusion over the summer that we shouldn't be waiting for something to happen before committing for 2025, but let's just continue our job, Max at Red Bull and here at Mercedes taking our own driver decisions.

"And that was a kind of a joint thought.”

Wolff has not given up hope of persuading Verstappen to join Mercedes in 2026, when new regulations come into effect, adding he has a “feeling” that the two parties’ paths will cross at some stage in the future.

"What I like with Max, Raymond and Jos is that we talk straight. We don't need to push each other. We have been in this too long; we've taken the decision for drivers for next year. This is what our full effort is going into," he said.

"Hopefully that's going to be the line-up for 2026 and beyond. But that doesn't close the door on Max being with us in 2026 or beyond, because we want to still keep all the options open in the same way he does. So what I enjoyed in our conversations is there is never a hidden agenda.

"Somehow I have that feeling [that Mercedes and Verstappen's paths will cross]. But I don't know when that could be. Whether it's '26, whether it's three years' later, I don't know yet.”

The Mercedes boss appeared to drop a major hint that the team’s teenage prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be promoted following just a single season in Formula 2 to become George Russell’s next teammate.

"Soon, we will confirm who is in the second seat. And what I also said is that the two drivers that are in the car have our full support, 100 per cent," Wolff added.

"And therefore, I'm entering the season in 2025 with two drivers that we will be given all the opportunity to perform.

"And that's why I don't want to talk about the 2026 driver line-up at that stage because I want to make it work with George and Kimi."