Wolff keen to pry Verstappen from Red Bull ‘bumpy grounds’

Toto Wolff has reiterated his desire to sign Max Verstappen but has conceded that luring him for the 2025 F1 campaign is now out of the equation.

Wolff has been public in his pursuit of Verstappen’s signature this year despite the three-time world champion having a contract in place at Red Bull until 2028.

However, exit clauses are believed to exist in the deal which came to light amid an intra-team power struggle earlier in the year.

Key departures have since been announced at Red Bull, with Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley to leave in the coming months.

Speaking to select media including RacingNews365, Wolff highlighted the unrest at the team as a possibility for Mercedes’ pursuit.

“I thought all through the year that there was a window, or that there was a possibility,” he said. “It wasn’t zero.

“It’s pretty bumpy grounds there still - not only for performance reasons, but also because of interpersonal issues that we are all aware of.

“By the way, I have got on with Jos all my life, but maybe because we’re a bit similar. That’s why I thought the door was never completely closed.

“What were the odds of that happening? Maybe there were 10/1, 9/1. I didn’t want to give up.

“But then we together came to the conclusion over the summer that we shouldn’t be waiting for something to happen before committing for 2025. Let’s just continue our job.”

Wolff asserts Verstappen door remains open for F1 2026

Mercedes is believed to be on the verge of announcing its driver line-up for 2025, with its protege Kimi Antonelli the favourite to be confirmed alongside George Russell.

While Wolff has ended his pursuit of Verstappen for next year’s campaign, the Austrian declared the door is still open for the following season.

“What I like with Max, Raymond [Vermeulen, Verstappen’s manager] and Jos [Verstappen] is that we talk straight, we have been in this too long.

“We have taken the decision for drivers for next year. This is what our full effort is going into.

“Hopefully that’s going to be the line-up for 2026 and beyond.

“But that doesn’t close the door on Max being with us in 2026 or beyond, because we want to still keep all the options open in the same way he does.

“So what I enjoyed in our conversations is there is never a hidden agenda. There is no such thing. It’s on the table, this is what it is.”