Toto Wolff has said the prospect of the Mercedes Formula 1 team swooping to sign four-time world champion Max Verstappen from Red Bull is “not on.”
There were repeated links between the Mercedes squad, where Wolff is team principal, and Red Bull star Verstappen over a potential blockbuster move during the 2025 season. Ultimately, Verstappen stayed put around his existing contract with Red Bull and Mercedes kept George Russell, 28, and Kimi Antonelli, 19, as its drivers for a second successive season in 2026.
They have each won a grand prix in the opening two rounds of this campaign — where Mercedes has vaulted back to the front of the F1 pecking order after suffering a severe downturn during the previous ground-effect era of F1 car design.
Verstappen and Red Bull initially dominated this period, as the Dutchman won three world titles between 2022-2024 after claiming his first at the expense of then-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton at the end of F1’s ultra-high-downforce car design era in 2021.
But Verstappen’s relationship with Red Bull appeared to grow less stable as his title streak went on. In early 2024, when Red Bull was being rocked by the behavior scandal of ex-team principal Christian Horner, Wolff said Mercedes signing Verstappen “needs to happen at a certain stage.”
Mercedes nearly signed Verstappen as a junior driver back in 2014, but lost out to Red Bull as it could offer him an F1 drive straight from Formula 3 for 2025. This highlights how long Wolff has admired Verstappen’s driving skills, with the Austrian leading Mercedes in F1 since 2013.
Then, midway through the 2025 season, Russell revealed there had been “ongoing” discussions between Wolff and Verstappen’s camp. At the time Russell did not have his 2026 deal in place despite a string of impressive performances as Mercedes team leader following Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025, and Wolff reluctantly acknowledged there had been “conversations” about Verstappen.
Wolff has been an admirer of Verstappen since he raced at the junior level (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
These ultimately came to nothing, as Verstappen’s position in the 2025 drivers’ standings was high enough by the August summer break to ensure a results-dependent escape clause in his Red Bull contract (that runs to 2028) could not be triggered.
It was widely assumed in the F1 paddock that a repeat of the same scenario could take place in 2026, even as the current Mercedes drivers head the pack, but new comments from Wolff have altered that view.
“The Max to Mercedes thing for now is not on,” he said at this weekend’s Japanese GP, in an interview with the Press Association. “The situation is completely transparent. We have clear contracts with both (Russell and Antonelli).”
Russell’s multi-year extension to his Mercedes contract was eventually announced in October 2025. Antonelli’s own extension was disclosed at the same time.
As Verstappen’s contract situation revealed last year, most F1 deals include clauses that mean a party can exit a contract if certain results are not achieved and multi-year deals can be arranged as 1+1, meaning one year guaranteed with more as an option.
”Someone said that the Max discussions will eventually come back on the table again,” Wolff added in Japan. “But no, there are not any Max discussions.
“I could not be happier with the two drivers that we have. Their positioning, with the age gap and how it aligns well with our strategy, means there are not any discussions.”
In the same interview, Wolff also referenced comments about Russell’s position possibly being precarious — after all, Wolff is a close friend of Antonelli’s family and has long viewed the Italian as a long-term Mercedes F1 racer — from 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill on his Stay on Track podcast.
“I respect Damon tremendously,” Wolff said of this. “I read his book, and I can relate to many things in his life. And he is a world champion, and there are not many that can say that.
“But on that particular topic, I wouldn’t have said it that way because George has been with us since 2017. There is no reason why that shouldn’t keep going until 2037.”