Mercedes have made their interest in Verstappen clear and have been publicly courting the reigning world champion as they search for a replacement for the Ferrari-boundAlthough speculation has been rife for weeks that Mercedes could be trying to lure Verstappen away from Red Bull - despite the Dutchman being under contract until the end of 2028 - Wolff has now seemingly ruled out a move.Crash.net
at the Spanish Grand Prix: “No, there’s no talks taking place at that stage because I think we need to look at ourselves and on improving the car.” Meanwhile, reports in Germany have claimed that Mercedes have already decided they will promote teenage prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli to partner George Russell after just one season in Formula 2.“No, no driver decision has been made,” he insisted. “I said we want to keep this decision as long as possible because who knows what will happen.”
When it was put to Wolff that Mercedes’ recent upswing in performance might be too late to convince Verstappen to leave Red Bull for the Silver Arrows, he said: “I think we just need to continue to improve and look at ourselves. “The most important is as a team with our drivers, Lewis and George, we’ve just got to get better and hopefully consolidate our ability to be on the podium, and at a certain stage be able to win races on our own.