Verstappen is currently dominating the F1 world with Red Bull and is on his way to his record third world title, but it could all have gone very differently
Mercedes failed to sign Max Verstappen as a young Formula 1 prospect, Toto Wolff admits.
Verstappen’s name is now synonymous with Red Bull Racing. After making his F1 debut with sister team Toro Rosso, he was quickly promoted to the top team and after several years of development he became the man to beat on the grid.
He is on track to win his third consecutive drivers’ title this year and he will do it in style. He is currently on a streak of 10 consecutive wins against Red Bull. But it could have been different. Verstappen may never have raced for Red Bull, said Wolff, speaking about Mercedes’ efforts to sign the Dutchman when he was a teenager.
“Max is very good in karting, he’s good in F3 and obviously there’s a big team growing up,” Wolff told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast when asked if he could have signed Verstappen before. Are not.
However, as he added, the fact that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg felt comfortable and performed well in their race seats ultimately pushed the Dutchman away. Wolff added: “We spoke to them from the beginning and it was a good conversation with [father] Jos as well as with Max being involved. “But obviously we can’t give him a seat because we have Nico and we have Lewis. We have offered support in F2 but because Red Bull can offer them AlphaTauri or Toro Rosso seats at that point, it allowed Max to sit down.”
