Everything Toto Wolff said - and didn’t say - about signing Max Verstappen

Toto Wolff has faced a barrage of questions about Mercedes’ supposed interest in signing Max Verstappen for the 2026 F1 season.

Continued delays in handing George Russell, who is out of contract next year, a new deal has fuelled suggestions that Mercedes are considering a move for four-time world champion Verstappen despite the 27-year-old Briton’s strong start to the season.

Verstappen is under contract to Red Bull until the end of 2028 but is believed to have break clauses which could enable the Dutchman to exit the team early.

On Thursday ahead of the F1 Austrian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are present on the ground, Russell suggested Mercedes’ continued pursuit of Verstappen was behind the delay to his contract extension. 

“It’s only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing,” Russell told Sky Sports. “But from my side, if I’m performing as I’m doing, what have I got to be concerned about? There are two seats in every Formula 1 team.”

Verstappen also refused to commit his F1 future to Red Bull on Thursday when asked if he would still be racing for the team in 2026.

Wolff was grilled about the topic when he faced the media during Friday’s team principals’ press conference at the Red Bull Ring.

Asked what more Russell needs to do to secure a contract extension, Wolff said: “Nothing. He has been part of our programme since 10 years or so. He's always performed to the expectations that we have set. And he's continuing to do so.

“We haven't given him a car to win world championship in the last three years. So that's completely on us. And the times the car has been good, he has been winning races.

“He’s always there. You know that when he's getting in the car, he's going to extract what is in the car. So having said that,  for whatever reason, in early summer, those kind of contract discussions start to end up being accelerated in the media or accelerated because of a lack of information.

“What I have been doing the last 30 years in a normal business, contract discussions are not being held in town halls. So everything is normal, everything goes to plan.”

When asked if Russell is top of Mercedes’ list for 2026, Wolff responded: “Well, he needs to be top of the list because he's a race winner with us. He's a Mercedes Junior. He's been with the team for a long time.”

It was then put to Wolff that Russell, who has been linked with Aston Martin, could be talking to other teams.

“Again, we are going into territory that I don't want to discuss out here, but people talk, people explore and most important is that in our organisation, we are transparent,” Wolff said.

“But it doesn't change a millimetre of my opinion of George, his abilities or anything else.”

Are Mercedes talking to Max Verstappen?

When directly asked whether Mercedes have held talks with Verstappen following Russell’s claim, Wolff remained tight-lipped.

“Whether I like it or not, I like what George says and I'm always supportive of the driver. And there is no such thing as saying things I wouldn't want him to say,” he said.

“I think we are very transparent in the team of what we do, what we plan. And we've been like that since I was being put in charge of that. So that's not the issue. And at the moment, clearly, you need to explore what's happening in the future.

“But it doesn't change anything of what I said before about George or about Kimi, about the line-up that I'm extremely happy of having.”

Wolff has previously stressed that Mercedes’ current line-up of Russell and highly-rated rookie Kimi Antonelli is the future of the team.

He also said he is open to pairing Russell and Verstappen, who have clashed both on and off track in recent months, at Mercedes.

"I can imagine every line-up,” Wolff said. “I had Rosberg and Hamilton and fighting for a world championship, so everything else afterwards is easy.

“There's pros and cons of having two drivers fighting each other hard. We've seen examples where that functioned and other examples where it didn't.

“And when it comes to the contract situation, you know, our sport is pressure, constant pressure, whether you're in the car, outside of the car, you just need to cope with that. And George knows that, like any other driver knows it.

“I feel that when you're being put in a comfort zone, sometimes that is actually more detrimental to performance than having a certain pressure point in the system.”

Wolff rejected suggestions Mercedes have set a deadline for Verstappen to decide whether he would want to join Mercedes.

"You make it sound like that we have been asking when do you want to join and what are the terms? That’s not how it is and how it works. And I come back to my previous answer,” he stressed.

“I want to just have the conversations behind closed doors, not town halls. And we have two drivers that have been in our programme since a long time, drivers that I'm perfectly happy to have, drivers that will do great in the future of the team. So it's a bit different, the situation.”

Back at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March, Wolff insisted that he would stop “flirting” with Verstappen because he was no longer on Mercedes’ “radar”.

So has something changed?

“Define flirting! No, nothing changed,” Wolff replied to that question. “There is no flirt in that sense. You can flirt or you have conversations.”