- Wolff dismisses “astonishing” rumours despite Verstappen’s performance clause.
- Verstappen sits 8th in standings as performance triggers threaten Red Bull future.
- Mercedes retains faith in Russell and Antonelli despite Max’s potential availability.
Toto Wolff recently addressed resurfaced rumours about Max Verstappen’s potential switch to Mercedes. This speculation likely sparked after the first two Grand Prixs, when Verstappen appeared to be clearly struggling with his car under the new regulations.
With a rough start to the season, he currently stands in the 8th position in the driver’s standings. Now, many believe that if Red Bull fails to provide a competitive car to the 4-time-world champion, he might consider switching, as his performance clause allows him to do so.
As Wolff has earlier expressed a strong interest in signing the Dutchman, many believe that their team-up would indeed be iconic. However, it might cause a present Mercedes driver to lose his seat.
Will Verstappen switch to Mercedes?
In conversation with OE24, Wolff addressed the ongoing rumours about Verstappen’s potentially switching to Mercedes if Red Bull fails to deliver a good car for him to compete. He feels the rumours are “astonishing,” given they have appeared in March (start of the season), when such talks generally take place around mid-season.
While he doesn’t know where these rumours sparked from, he made it clear that both of his drivers (Kimi Antonelli and George Russell) are currently on a multi-year contract, and he isn’t looking forward to terminating them.
He said, ” I could not be happier with either of them; both are delivering top performances, so there is absolutely no reason to even consider a line-up change or other drivers.” Clarifying that he still holds the Dutchman in his highest regard, he added, “I say this with the utmost respect for Max.”
While Wolff has debunked the rumours at the moment, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he won’t be up for signing Verstappen in the future, when the situation is favourable for both sides.
The clock’s ticking for Red Bull
In 2016, Verstappen came in as a replacement for Daniil Kvyat in Red Bull Racing, quickly proving his talent and breaking various records. There’s no doubt he has been loyal to the team, having won 4 Driver’s World Championship titles with them.
However, his deal with Red Bull consists of a performance-based clause, which might create trouble for the team, possibly this year.
The clause states that if Red Bull fails to deliver a competitive car and if Verstappen doesn’t remain in the top 3 in standings by the summer break, he can exit the team and find suitable prospects. And given that he is the MAX EMILIAN VERSTAPPEN, any team would be more than happy to sign him.
Now, the contract trigger situation hasn’t arisen only this year for Red Bull; it did even last year, but fortunately, they made a stronger comeback in the second half of the season.
After the summer break, Verstappen was more than 100 points behind in the standings, but they eventually recovered in the remaining races. Their comeback even threatened McLaren drivers, who were competing for the championship.
With Verstappen in the mix, it created uncertainty for McLaren that the title was slipping through their hands. He lost his 5th title by 2 points to Lando Norris.
Now, in 2026, it remains to be seen what Red Bull does under these new regs to effectively make Verstappen’s upcoming races better.
