Toto Wolff pinpoints ‘absolute priority’ in F1 after Max Verstappen rumours

Rumours have abounded that reigning champion Max Verstappen is in discussions with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff regarding a possible move to the team in 2026.

But today, Wolff has scuppered any ideas about pushing George Russell or Kimi Antonelli out of the picture; he’s claimed they’re Mercedes’ “absolute priority.”

Toto Wolff declares Antonelli, Russell as “absolute priority” in Formula 1

Formula 1 silly season has gotten off to an early start this year courtesy of an unresolved Mercedes driver line-up for 2026.

The contracts of both of the team’s current drivers, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, will expire at the conclusion of F1 2025, and while those drivers have expressed their confidence in being re-signed to Mercedes, there have been no guarantees.

Particularly because reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen’s future with Red Bull Racing has seemed tenuous. The team’s performance has slipped, while its major players — Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, and more — have all parted ways.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has expressed an interest in potentially signing Max Verstappen, and during this brief break between the British and Belgian Grands Prix, Ralf Schumacher pointed fans in the direction of jet and yacht tracking data that implied the crafts of both Verstappen and Wolff were spotted in Sardinia.

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But speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF ahead of Spa, Wolff seems to have scuppered the idea that Verstappen could appear on the team’s line-up in 2026.

“Discussions have been taking place over the last weeks and months, so they are all up to date,” Wolff said.

“The direction of travel is definitely that we want to continue with George and Kimi. That is the absolute priority.

“But you can’t look past someone like Max and the plans he has for the future. We did that, but I don’t think there will be any big surprises.”

While we won’t be able to definitively know Mercedes’ driver line-up until the ink has dried on next season’s contracts, it certainly sounds like Verstappen has been counted out of the running.

As far as the flight tracking data and fabricated images depicting Wolff boarding Verstappen’s jet go, Wolff sounded quite tickled — noting that this has brought a new complexion to the realm of F1 silly season rumours.

“What’s new is that people are doing photo collages with airplanes. We’ve never had that before,” Wolff said.

“But if you spend your holidays close to each other, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to work together in Formula 1.

“We have always gotten along well and by chance we like to spend our holidays at the same places.”

Max Verstappen: A future outside of Red Bull?

It can be difficult to imagine Max Verstappen competing for any non-Red Bull affiliated Formula 1 team, considering it was the team’s junior program that provided Verstappen with a launch point into the Formula 1 world when he was still just a teenager.

However, rumours of unrest between the driver and his team have begun to swirl.

Despite securing four consecutive World Driver Championships with Verstappen, Red Bull Racing has begun to falter. In mid-2024, as the competition introduced upgrade packages that led directly to Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari snatching race wins, the once-dominant Red Bull struggled to introduce upgrades of its own to counter the performance of its rivals.

Because of Verstappen’s strong start to 2024, he was still able to wrap up the World Championship title well before the end of the season; the team itself, though, slipped to third overall in the constructors’ standings.

The start to the F1 2025 season has been grim. While Verstappen has still managed to secure two Grand Prix victories, it’s clear that the RB21 is no longer the cream of the crop. Red Bull now sits fourth in the constructors’ standings, with 165 of its 172 total points being scored by the Dutch driver.

As mentioned above, many of the team’s major players have either departed of their own accord or have been fired. The shocking sacking of longtime CEO and team principal Christian Horner just after the conclusion of the British Grand Prix seems to imply that key leadership is keen to make a major change — and, potentially, to keep Verstappen at the team.

Though Verstappen has previously expressed a desire to conclude his Formula 1 career with Red Bull Racing, the ever-changing tides of the sport may require him to adopt a different mindset to remain competitive.

Further, just because Toto Wolff has expressed Mercedes’ intention to remain with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell for F1 2026 does not necessarily mean that Verstappen has been ruled out of the picture for 2027 and beyond.

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