Toto Wolff U-turns over Max Verstappen as Red Bull play Mercedes at their own game | F1 | Sport

Toto Wolff has admitted that the time is right to back off his public interest in Max Verstappen, stating that he is content with a driver line-up of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. These comments follow Christian Horner’s suggestion that Red Bull will consider the latter for a seat in 2026.

Wolff has been publicly chasing Verstappen’s signature since Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was confirmed at the beginning of February and while Mercedes were unable to lure the reigning world champion to Brackley for 2025, they have a great chance to do so in 2026.

However, Mercedes face a dilemma. To bring Verstappen on board, they would need to move on from one of Antonelli or Russell, and Wolff has an attachment to both drivers, given their history as graduates of the Silver Arrows’ junior programme.

Now, Wolff is backtracking on his pursuit. “We’re sitting back,” he told Autosport. “I think I’ve expressed it before, and we have a similar view also from Max’s side: you’ve got to put faith in your drivers or in your team.

“You need to give it the maximum support you can to make it a success. And only if things go really wrong, you will consider other opportunities. For me, it’s like flirting outside whilst you’re making your relationship work.

“It doesn’t work, I’m not flirting outside. Only if I want to have a change, or consider a change, I would seek a conversation. And it is the same on his side. We’re pretty aligned in our values on that I think.”

The Mercedes chief’s comments come at the perfect time. In Singapore, Horner teased that Red Bull are monitoring Russell’s availability as they consider potential successors to Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez.

“We just want to take time to consider what those options look like for the future – and we’re not afraid to go out of the pool,” he told Sky Sports F1. “George Russell is out of contract at the end of the next year. It would be foolish not to take that into consideration. There are other – talented drivers – that could well be out of contract as well.”

Wolff was quick to bat off Horner’s teasing. “Christian is always trying to stir s*** up,” he hit back. “It’s part of the game. George is a Mercedes driver, has been forever and hopefully will be forever. We have a long contract with him.”