{"id":766104,"date":"2026-06-28T04:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T04:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/766104\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T04:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T04:38:12","slug":"toto-wolffs-mercedes-driver-line-up-comments-divide-f1-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/766104\/","title":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff’s Mercedes driver line-up comments divide F1 fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toto Wolff has attempted to pour cold water on the Formula 1 driver market rumours, firmly stating that Mercedes<\/a> has no desire to alter its current pairing of George Russell<\/a> and Kimi Antonelli. However, F1 fans have been left divided over the Mercedes chief’s comments.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 ahead of qualifying in Austria, Wolff was strong in his support for his current drivers. “We don\u2019t want to change things. We\u2019ve said that also to George, I think it\u2019s a line-up that is good for us. I\u2019m very happy with the two of them,” Wolff said.<\/p>\n

Wolff’s comments became the subject of debate on social media. For a large portion of fans, Wolff’s reluctance to dip into the driver market, which could include four-time champion Max Verstappen<\/a>, makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n

“Makes sense, ideal scenario for Toto is Kimi dominates and George hangs around.\u00a0He won\u2019t fancy another 2016, and Max is a very expensive way to relive those years,” one fan wrote on Reddit<\/a>, while someone else posted: “He’s got a good first and second driver, no need to change things up.”<\/p>\n

Someone else wrote: “Yes, no s***. They are both very good drivers and have been a part of Mercedes for yonks.\u00a0I don\u2019t want Kimi to leave, and I don\u2019t want George to leave. Wish people would rein it in a bit tbh.”<\/p>\n

\"George <\/p>\n

George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Zak Mauger \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But\u00a0others argued that while Wolff has dismissed the rumours for now, he has not completely closed the door to a driver change.<\/p>\n

“‘We have no plans to change’ isn\u2019t the same as ‘we won\u2019t make a change’. I\u2019m sure they are not actively planning on replacing Russell, but if unplanned things happen, they still will,” one fan commented, while another added: “‘We don’t want to change things, but we will if a driver becomes available.'”<\/p>\n

Others echoed these opinions. “They don\u2019t want to change things, but they will if both drivers don\u2019t perform,” another fan commented. Someone else posted: “Translation: As long as Max is not available, we don’t want to replace George.”<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff has attempted to pour cold water on the Formula 1 driver market rumours, firmly stating that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[3032,45812,49,48,578,270882,576,577,3024,1881,82,4503,272449,4962],"class_list":["post-766104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-austrian-gp","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-austrian-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes","tag-sports","tag-toto-wolff","tag-toto-wolffs-mercedes-driver-line-up-comments-divide-f1-fans","tag-trendingteam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}