Toto Wolff sets clear Max Verstappen to Mercedes stance | F1 | Sport

Max Verstappen is unlikely to join Mercedes for the 2027 Formula 1 season after Toto Wolff poured cold water on speculation linking him with a move to the Silver Arrows. Reports surfaced at the Austrian Grand Prix that the Dutchman is reportedly unsettled at Red Bull and is looking to exercise a buy-out clause in his contract to exit next year. McLaren have surprisingly emerged as a potential destination for the four-time world champion and CEO Zak Brown refused to close the door on a deal.

However, Wolff has seemingly shut down any chance of him competing for Verstappen to head to Brackley. Speaking at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Wolff expressed his satisfaction with how championship leader Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have performed and is not looking to change his driver lineup. “Yeah, we don’t want to change things, and I’ve also said to George that I think it’s a lineup that is good for us,” the Mercedes team principal told Sky Sports F1. “We’re very happy with the two of them.”

Wolff publicly courted Verstappen for much of the 2025 season as he tried to capitalise on Red Bull’s moment of weakness, with the team divided due to a row between Christian Horner and Jos Verstappen, the driver’s father. The pair later made amends, but Horner’s departure in June last year raised doubts about Verstappen Jr staying until the end of his 2028 deal.

The Austrian supremo, 54, even admitted that he had first tried to sign Verstappen before he joined Red Bull’s driver academy in 2014. “I spoke to Jos and Huub Rothengatter [Jos Verstappen’s manager during his F1 career] when they came to my office in Brackley and that must have been when Max was in karting or at the end of his karting days [in 2013] just before Formula 3 [in 2014],” Wolff said in 2023.

“And then we spoke again when Max and Jos visited me in my house in Vienna. We spent a few hours discussing his future. Do I regret missing out on Max? Certainly. But it wasn’t an option back in the day.

“We had two drivers that I was extremely happy with, in Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis [Hamilton], and when Nico left [at the end of 2016], Valtteri [Bottas] was then the option and Max wasn’t even available.”

During last season’s summer break, he turned on the charm offensive by inviting Verstappen onto his yacht for a secret meeting in Italy. But when Verstappen confirmed he would remain with the team for the 2026 campaign at least, Wolff decided to retain Antonelli, 19, and Russell, 27, as his drivers.

That decision has already paid dividends, with Antonelli dominating after winning five of the first eight races this season and leading the drivers’ championship by 56 points. Verstappen, meanwhile, has endured a torrid start to the season in the Red Bull, suffering a DNF at the Monaco Grand Prix due to an engine failure.

Reports suggest Verstappen has a contract clause written into his £50million-a-year deal that would allow him to leave next year if he finishes outside the top two in the drivers’ standings – a scenario that looks likely at this stage. His second-place finish in Austria took him to 73 points for the season, although it still leaves him 98 adrift of Antonelli.

Responding to links with McLaren, Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, refuted claims that a deal is in place for him to leave the team with which he has spent 10 years of his career. “Of course, there are release clauses, there always have been. But we’ve never exercised one,” Vermeulen said.

“We’ve always been loyal and we will remain so. We want to continue down the path with Red Bull and see Max finish his career here – but of course with the possibility of winning.”