Toto Wolff Lets Slip Lewis Hamilton Replacement Whilst Keeping Door Open For Max Verstappen

Saajan Jogia | Aug 24, 2024

Toto Wolff 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, Friday - LAT Images / Mercedes Press Image

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted he is still eyeing Max Verstappen for a potential seat at Mercedes, with hopes pinned on 2026. Wolff also accidentally disclosed that the team's junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, will be joining George Russell on the grid in 2025, with an official announcement expected soon.

Wolff made a determined effort this season to secure Verstappen for Mercedes, aiming to capitalize on the ongoing internal turmoil at Red Bull. However, with Verstappen committed to his Red Bull contract until 2028 and given the team's dominance in the ground effect era, the Dutchman showed little interest in switching to Mercedes.

Nonetheless, if not for 2025, the Mercedes team boss remains undeterred in his pursuit of Verstappen for 2026. For the 2025 seat, which Lewis Hamilton leaves behind for Ferrari, Wolff accidentally revealed that Mercedes will be offering full support to "George and Kimi" in an interview with De Telegraaf. He said:

“The two drivers in our car next year have our full support. I want to make it work with George [Russell] and Kimi [Antonelli].”

Thus, 2025 could be understood as a proving ground for the F2 Prema Racing driver, giving enough time for Mercedes to assess Kimi Antonelli's potential for the future before Formula 1 enters a new era of regulations in 2026, when the grid is expected to reset after four years.

However, in an interview with Formule1.nl, Wolff revealed his hopes to have Verstappen onboard Mercedes in the future and that the door was open to him for 2026. When asked if there was a time this year when he thought it was a realistic option to sign Verstappen for 2025, he said:

"I thought all year that there was a possibility. It's still unsettled at Red Bull. Not only for performance reasons, but also for interpersonal issues that we are all aware of. And that's why I thought the door was never completely closed. In the summer we came to the conclusion together that we shouldn't wait for something to happen before we committed for 2025. That was a shared thought."

When Wolff was asked if the doors were open for Verstappen in 2026, he refused to speak on the driver lineup for the new era and instead, looked forward to announcing the new lineup for 2025. He said:

"We will soon officially confirm who will be in the second seat, as George's teammate. And the two drivers who will be in the car will have our full support, 100 percent. I will go into the 2025 season with two drivers who we will give every opportunity to perform. And that's why I don't want to talk about the driver line-up for 2026 yet."

Talking about his past statement on doing a handstand for Verstappen and confirming that the doors at Mercedes remain open for him, he added:

"I tried a handstand in the summer, it really hurt my wrist. But seriously, my comment about the handstand was made when we didn't have a driver for next year. And then Max was the obvious candidate or even the best possible candidate. Now we have two drivers and everyone in the team is fully behind it.

"What I like about Max, his manager Raymond and his father Jos is that we talk openly with each other, without hidden agendas. We’ve been in this business for too long. We’ve made a decision for 2025 and hopefully that will be the line-up for 2026. But that doesn’t automatically mean that the door is closed for Max with us in 2026 or beyond. We still want to keep all options open in the same way he does.”

Wolff affirmed his feeling that, at some point in the future, Verstappen will race for Mercedes. He said:

"Yes, that's true. Somewhere I have that feeling. But I don't know when that could be. Whether it's in 2026 or three years later, I don't know yet."