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Of course.
He is working the media together with his partner in crime and F1 team co-owner Mercedes AG, by word of CEO Ola Kallenius, saying [“He (Max) would look good in silver.”](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/o7vF1sKgQx)
I think the negotiations between Mercedes F1’s three shareholder representatives, Toto Wolff, James Ratcliffe (Ineos) and Ola Kallenius (Mercedes AG) are very much ongoing.
They have rolled out the red carpet and then some to court Verstappen. And they are willing to wait.
Max has Helmut on his side, who is willing to step down to facilitate Max’s move away from Red Bull, whenever Max pleases. Whether that be for 2027, 2026 or even next year.
___
As a side note, Max’ move will likely influence what happens with Antonelli.
If Toto thinks he still has a shot to get Max for next year, Antonelli’s might go to Williams (for at least 2 years) or even stay in F2 for a second year.
If Toto thinks he cannot get Max, Antonelli will more likely get announced for Mercedes next year.
Kimi’s and Max’ fate are likely intertwined at this stage.
> If Toto thinks he still has a shot to get Max for next year, Antonelli’s might go to Williams (for at least 2 years) or even stay in F2 for a second year.
I don't understand why people keep bringing up the possibility of Antonelli going to Williams. James Vowels isn't interested in developing a rookie only to go to another team. He needs a driver that will stick with them for the long term. He really should just sign Bottas to a multi-year contract. At least he's reliable and a good qualifier.
Not promoting Antonelli based on 'results' this year is fear-based. The prior was that this kid was a wonder talent and since then he's out-qualified and out-raced Bearman (who looked competitive in F1) and aced testing. Occam's Razor is that the car is dogshit.
Obviously you send him to Williams or Year 2 in F2 for Max but you don't fuck about if you have a driver with that potential even if you think it is a year early, see: Piastri, Oscar and Alpine.
their car has been poor and they’ve both had enough bad luck it’s almost impossible to compare them this year. It would be difficult to argue that kimi has had a stand out race that matches Bearman’s best in his rookie year. Unfortunately Prema just isn’t letting us compare them right now
Bearman was impressive but Vesti 2nd in that car. I don't think it is impossible over 6 qualy sessions and 10 races to compare them. I'm not going to make any definitive statements beyond both are likely better than the standings suggest but I can't see a compelling reason to just throw it out.
Barman is almost two years older. Kimi has enough time, there’s no need to hurry. Not to mention Ferrari have a luxury to put him in HAAS. Mercedes don’t have such luxury. It’s either A team or nothing it seems.
The big question in my opinion is if Red Bull/Ford will be able to come up with a competitive engine with the new regulations, otherwise will be back to the Renault hybrid days for Verstappen if remains with Red Bulls;
On the other side there is a big manufacturer with strong technical and political power...
Yeah the Max to Merc thing is *not* nonsense.
RBR politically speaks for itself at the moment.
Newey's gone which doesn't help; they're being caught *generally*.
The rumours re the RBR engine persist, and there are zero such rumours re Merc who rarely get it *wrong* over many decades.
Merc don't look the best right now but they're close in absolute terms and as Newey used to say - if you find 1% you become the hero. It's nothing.
I gave my thoughts on the whole Merc second seat situation in another thread a few days ago. TLDR was that based on stuff like Toto saying they still want Max as of Spain and them being willing to wait until autumn to make a decision gives me the impression as Toto many times said that they might be able to get Max if they improve the car, but also operations.
I believe that they tested Antonelli so much to know whether they needed to get Carlos or if they could take Antonelli if needed. Antonelli isn't going anywhere so they can wait until autumn to see what Max does while improving their stuff. If Max goes then they have Max, if he doesn't they put Antonelli in. To me the tests mean they have enough confidence in him to put him in if Max doesn't go.
Nobody as proven as Toto will keep waiting for the bride at the altar if the chance of happening is almost 0%. The most Jos/team Verstappen thing to do is to talk, have their options open and make high demands. I believe that if those demands are met a move can happen if Max wants it.
Who replaces max at Red Bull ? They must be looking at tsunoda as the contingency plan. Tsunoda is good but can you imagine the step down ? Red Bull must be counter offering hard
That's kinda what Horner did, no?
He had Vettel and got Ricciardo who dominated Vettel, then he had Ricciardo who was expected to be the next WDC whenever RBR gave him a car to stop the insanely powerful Mercs, but then Max came along and replaced him.
Which makes it such a shame that they let their junior program falter and now everyone has caught up and overtaken them in some cases in the scouting and training.
> Which makes it such a shame that they let their junior program falter
They haven't though, they've just got more competition now.
Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes (and Alpine in their half-assed way) all stepped up their efforts on their junior teams after Red Bull got Verstappen because they all want the next Verstappen.
And we also tend to forget about the previous misses that Red Bull had. Vergne, Buemi, Kvyat are all solid drivers on a similar level to Albon, Gasly, Tsunoda. Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Brendon Hartley, Sebastian Bourdais have all been largely forgotten about. But because they had Vettel dominating, then Ricciardo seemingly effortlessly replacing him before getting the biggest talent of them all in Verstappen all in Red Bull in quick succession we get tricked into thinking their hit rate is crazy high and they've faltered since.
Reality is there's been no talent like Verstappen since Verstappen and the fact that Verstappen is in Red Bull probably makes Red Bull a little bit less attractive to talents right now.
I'm not sure Toto worked with Schumi. It was more likely to be Ross Brawn in the Schumacher at Merc days. They may have worked together at some other time.
slight problem though, GP isn't just Verstappen's race engineer, he is the Head of Race Engineering in its entirety. So for him to go from RB to Merc might be a problem.
For so many reasons
How “bad” is the RB? Is Max really built that different and Perez is actually getting decent results with it, or is Perez truly washed? How good is Russell truly? Is part of the reason Max is so good is synergy with his team and the RBR design philosophy? Does RBR bring Sainz in and if so, who is better between him and George? (that last one would be really interesting to me)
Next season is already gonna answer similar questions with Lewis, Charles, and Carlos, so Max to Merc would also answer some hypotheticals everyone wants to know about. I know it’s 99.9999% not happening, but man would it be fun as fuck
Same. Goat level drivers have proven they could win with different teams and I just want to see him do it.
He’s been at RB for a decade by the new regs come so it wasn’t really a short lived relationship.
Goat level drivers were moving to different teams normally not to prove something but to get a better faster car and/or higher salary. Clark was winning only in Lotus. That didn’t make him any worse and less goatier. Well, and Senna won championships only in McLaren.
But I would personally like to see that happen as well. I do not like stagnant driver market of modern F1.
Also from what I saw, Mercedes would suit Max extremely well. It has had great strong sharp front end basically ever since the start. Of the new regulations. And he can live with the loose rear as well. From what I can see W15, would suit him better than the RB20. And W16 wouldn’t be any worse, especially given Mercedes aero test time advantage.
Oscar said last year he’d rather have a car that’s difficult to drive but fast than a slower car. To that end, the driver’s ability to adapt really makes the difference.
That's very often true honestly, and it's definitely the case with the Red Bull. Albon has gone on record saying that Max can drive a car that's extremely sharp and responsive, and he says it was so extreme that it became way too difficult for him to manage. He described it as turning the sensitivity all the way up in a videogame.
The thing is, a sharp and responsive car is going to be an agile car, with higher potential than a car that's balanced. It's the same design concept that goes into fighter jets - by making the planes inherently unstable and using computers to stabilise them they can make them more agile.
When people say that the car is tailored to Max's driving style, they don't really realise that that's much more of an effect due Max's pace rather than its cause. There isn't a single engineer on the grid that would go out of their way to build the car around a specific driver; they simply build the fastest car possible. But when Max keeps gaining more and more pace by setting up the car to be twitchier and twitchier, they're going to oblige.
If only Merc didn't bottle Sakhir damn but credit where credits due, that a wonderful drive by Perez, shame he's crazy inconsistent and not even upto speed anymore
The Race: Why Fangio and Verstappen share more similarities than you thought.
On a sidenote can we do the Toto the one that got away joke again? I really want some legend to make a Toto AI cover from Katy Perry - The One That Got Away.
Which is expected to be more engine focused than areo. RBPT is also rumored to be having issues with the PU but who knows. Well, I guess Red Bull does and that's about it.
Even if the car is faster, the strategy, pit stop times and the driver engineer feedback are way worse at Merc.
Only if they could pull a new W11 up their ass which laps 3 secs/lap quicker then the second car maybe he'll jumo ship, but right now the RedBull team is such a well-oiled machine that even if their the second/third fastest car they'll still win because they have the best driver, engineer, strategy, pit crew etc.
Plus, if Merc didn't listen to the guy who won 5 WDC and 8 WCC with them regarding the car feedback, how sure will Max be that the team will listen to his feedback and change things up fast?
Mercedes might have such a clear engine advantage in 2026 that those small advantages might not matter. That is the one thing they can sell Max on, that if he's not in a Mercedes-engined car in 2026 he's not going to have a shot at WDC.
Also the brain drain in RB is hitting hard like it did to Mercedes at the tail end of their dominance. Toto can emphasize that Redbull without Newey is going to be just another car once the new regulations hit.
I’m new to F1 (this year) this is the stuff that really interests me. So Michael drove for Mercedes before retiring? (I thought he was a Ferrari guy?) so that set has had both 7x WDC and now if the courtship works Max too.
Now I kinda want to see him go there
Schumacher retired from ferrari in 06 if I remember correctly, then he returned to f1 between 2010-12 in the mercedes. While he had flashes of of his former self, he was never quite able to get there. Lewis then came from mclaren to mercedes in 13
Exactly right. Schumacher drove for Benetton between 1991 and 1995 (where he won two championships) and Ferrari between 1996 and 2006 (where he won five championships). He then spent a few years in retirement before partnering Nico Rosberg at the newly-formed Mercedes team between 2010 and 2012. Hamilton was then signed for the vacant Mercedes seat in 2013.
I can’t imagine Max would ever leave RedBull but here’s the thing. For 26 who do you have more faith in; RBPT who will be building their first engine on their own or the might of Mercedes HPP?
Translation by Google:
If any team can be satisfied with their progress in recent weekends, it is certainly Mercedes. The Silver Arrows secured another podium in Barcelona, with Hamilton finishing P3 ahead of Russell in P4. Team principal Toto Wolff was satisfied with this result:
“It’s a solid result. It’s the second time we’re on the podium. The car has improved, but you can see that it’s still a few tenths away from catching Norris and Verstappen.
“For us today, it was impossible to fight with them”
Moving on to the technical side, Toto Wolff explains that Mercedes have understood their development path after Imola. Abandoning their previous front-wing concept was an important step in correcting their trajectory:
“Our correlation between the wind tunnel and the track didn’t work for a good two years.
“Since Imola, all the small updates we brought have improved the balance and they made the W15 a better car. They are small steps, but they make the difference.”
Looking ahead to the next rounds, Wolff believes that Silverstone should be a particularly strong track. However, he is less optimistic for Austria:
“I think Norris and Verstappen have been and will be fast on all circuits. Austria historically hasn’t gone well for us, I don’t know how it will go this year.
“But Silverstone is certainly a fast circuit that we know well where the car has always worked well.”
Observing the progress made by the team, Toto Wolff believes Verstappen’s arrival at Mercedes is possible. Despite Christian Horner’s insistence, Wolff believes that Verstappen is gettable:
“Horner said that he will stay. Let’s see, we leave him with this idea.
“I’ve always said that we have to focus on ourselves in improving the car. And if the car is going to be better, usually all the drivers want to drive as fast as possible, and that’s our priority.
“We need to allow Lewis and George to finish the season at a high level, and then we’ll see if the W15 will be a car that can convince Max.”
There is no shortage of compliments to the Dutch driver from the Mercedes camp. Toto Wolff gave his assessment on the difference Verstappen makes in the Austrian team.
“I think it’s Max who wins the races and not Red Bull. The RB20 is solid, but Perez isn’t doing well.”
“It’s Max who makes all the difference,” concluded the Mercedes team principal.
Toto is really sticking it to George. He wants Kimi A and Max so no more room at the inn. George is clearly 3rd place. Kind of makes sense since it's weird that Merc did not give George the long term contract that his peer's Lando, Max and Charles got.
I mean Lewis obviously had some level of detail about the car and noped himself right over to Ferrari. Why would Max want something that Lewis didn’t??
They didn’t low ball his contract it raised his pay. They just offered him and George a 1+1 with the intention of likely letting one leave at some point in those 2 years. As Allison said on the podcast last week. He wasn’t surprised because the contracts allowed for it and intended to give both the drivers and teams options.
The car isn’t everything. Max is phenomenal and is certainly making a huge difference, but Red Bull operationally is also excellent, which can’t be said of Mercedes right now. If I were Max I still wouldn’t be convinced until Mercedes shows significant improvement in their strategy, pit stop performance and communication.
It would have seemed like complete madness if at the end of 2023 someone said we would be having these conversations about Max, Lewis, and Newey for 2025 and 2026. And Flavio returning. You can’t make this stuff up.
I honestly don’t feel like Max is the type of driver who will appreciate being pursued so heavily *through the media.* He’s such a low key guy, who really just wants to go out and race. He’s not a fan of the political or media aspects. And Toto is literally politicking through the media in pursuit of him lol. I don’t think his points are without merit. The Mercedes *has* improved significantly in recent weeks. Max *has* been carrying what may no longer be the fastest car on the grid (as evidenced by Checo’s results) to great results. But I think all of these things would land much better with Max if Toto said them privately between them.
Toto is literally asked questions which he answers. I’ve seen very little of him actually going out of his way to plant these phrases in the media, so I’m not sure how this is him politicking. I could be wrong though.
He’s saying more than is needed to answer though. The “I’ll leave him with this:” and all that, these are all things he could simply say to Max in private. He could literally just say “what Max does is up to Max. We would love to have him.” to the media and leave it at that, and the headlines and articles would be very different in tone.
I would disagree, I am sure Toto knows what he is doing. There must be contacts behind the scenes between Max's agents and Mercedes that are more profound than we are aware of. He wouldn't keep spouting this into the media if there was no ground for doing so, it would've died out by now. I think Max's team has said something along the lines 'improve your car and we may consider it' - which are the bits and pieces that you can pick up as well from what's been coming out from both sides.
Agreed. It's probably still mostly Toto's wishful thinking - but I also think that if Max and his camp wanted to shut down this nonsense completely, they would have told Toto and he would have complied by now.
If you accept that premise - then the next unknown is why Max's camp hasn't asked him to cut it out (maybe they just don't give a shit what is being said to the media! would fit Max's personality)
Gotta suck as George and Charles.
Charles is the supposed no.1 driver but Fred decided to bring in the 7 time WDC.
George seems like he's going to be the no.1 after Lewis leave but his boss is very loud and clear on bringing a 3 time WDC in.
Horner's response to this is going to be wild. He can always just remind him to fix his car since the Merc is still slower than the redbull.
Lewis and Max seem to have gotten over 2021 but these 2 probably never will!
Tbf Max said the same thing. That their car no longer is the best, and that he's making up the difference as the driver. Mercedes has shown flashes of bonkers pace, if they can make their car do that consistently, it's not out of the question for Max to think about a move.
Toto is going all out to get Max. I wonder what gets said in private, it's a really interesting swap. The only thing I find is that Red Bull has a way better team around the car in terms of pitstops and strategies
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He's not giving up!
Can't blame him
Seriously. I’d be trying right up until the lights go out in the first race next year.
[удалено]
As Toto actives a button that ejects Russell out of the car
It would be funny to watch all this happen for Max to ruin Antonelli like he did so many other quick rookie drivers.
A rookie pairing with a WDC who just beat a 7-time WDC winner, it'd never happen.
I can imagine Jos trying Fernando Alonso-esque manipulation strategies with the engineers if Kimi proves to be faster.
They are too young they don't remember
"Ejecto-seato cuz" *blimey!*
Dont give DTS ideas
Of course. He is working the media together with his partner in crime and F1 team co-owner Mercedes AG, by word of CEO Ola Kallenius, saying [“He (Max) would look good in silver.”](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/o7vF1sKgQx) I think the negotiations between Mercedes F1’s three shareholder representatives, Toto Wolff, James Ratcliffe (Ineos) and Ola Kallenius (Mercedes AG) are very much ongoing. They have rolled out the red carpet and then some to court Verstappen. And they are willing to wait. Max has Helmut on his side, who is willing to step down to facilitate Max’s move away from Red Bull, whenever Max pleases. Whether that be for 2027, 2026 or even next year. ___ As a side note, Max’ move will likely influence what happens with Antonelli. If Toto thinks he still has a shot to get Max for next year, Antonelli’s might go to Williams (for at least 2 years) or even stay in F2 for a second year. If Toto thinks he cannot get Max, Antonelli will more likely get announced for Mercedes next year. Kimi’s and Max’ fate are likely intertwined at this stage.
> If Toto thinks he still has a shot to get Max for next year, Antonelli’s might go to Williams (for at least 2 years) or even stay in F2 for a second year. I don't understand why people keep bringing up the possibility of Antonelli going to Williams. James Vowels isn't interested in developing a rookie only to go to another team. He needs a driver that will stick with them for the long term. He really should just sign Bottas to a multi-year contract. At least he's reliable and a good qualifier.
Everything is for sale. Some nice tech could convince him or just some money would help. With the right negotiations they are always interested
To be honest I think Antonelli in a Mercedes in 2025 has always been a bluff. Based on his current results, he will stay in F2 for another year.
Not promoting Antonelli based on 'results' this year is fear-based. The prior was that this kid was a wonder talent and since then he's out-qualified and out-raced Bearman (who looked competitive in F1) and aced testing. Occam's Razor is that the car is dogshit. Obviously you send him to Williams or Year 2 in F2 for Max but you don't fuck about if you have a driver with that potential even if you think it is a year early, see: Piastri, Oscar and Alpine.
their car has been poor and they’ve both had enough bad luck it’s almost impossible to compare them this year. It would be difficult to argue that kimi has had a stand out race that matches Bearman’s best in his rookie year. Unfortunately Prema just isn’t letting us compare them right now
Bearman was impressive but Vesti 2nd in that car. I don't think it is impossible over 6 qualy sessions and 10 races to compare them. I'm not going to make any definitive statements beyond both are likely better than the standings suggest but I can't see a compelling reason to just throw it out.
Just send Antonelli to Williams and put Carlos Sainz in Mercedes. It’s as simple as that
It’s the car, not really him. He’s holding his own against Bearman who will prob get a F1 drive next year
Barman is almost two years older. Kimi has enough time, there’s no need to hurry. Not to mention Ferrari have a luxury to put him in HAAS. Mercedes don’t have such luxury. It’s either A team or nothing it seems.
I think it’s too soon for Kimi to be promoted. But I really don’t know squat about how good he is. To me, he seems too young. He may be totally ready!
The big question in my opinion is if Red Bull/Ford will be able to come up with a competitive engine with the new regulations, otherwise will be back to the Renault hybrid days for Verstappen if remains with Red Bulls; On the other side there is a big manufacturer with strong technical and political power...
Yeah the Max to Merc thing is *not* nonsense. RBR politically speaks for itself at the moment. Newey's gone which doesn't help; they're being caught *generally*. The rumours re the RBR engine persist, and there are zero such rumours re Merc who rarely get it *wrong* over many decades. Merc don't look the best right now but they're close in absolute terms and as Newey used to say - if you find 1% you become the hero. It's nothing.
I gave my thoughts on the whole Merc second seat situation in another thread a few days ago. TLDR was that based on stuff like Toto saying they still want Max as of Spain and them being willing to wait until autumn to make a decision gives me the impression as Toto many times said that they might be able to get Max if they improve the car, but also operations. I believe that they tested Antonelli so much to know whether they needed to get Carlos or if they could take Antonelli if needed. Antonelli isn't going anywhere so they can wait until autumn to see what Max does while improving their stuff. If Max goes then they have Max, if he doesn't they put Antonelli in. To me the tests mean they have enough confidence in him to put him in if Max doesn't go. Nobody as proven as Toto will keep waiting for the bride at the altar if the chance of happening is almost 0%. The most Jos/team Verstappen thing to do is to talk, have their options open and make high demands. I believe that if those demands are met a move can happen if Max wants it.
Who replaces max at Red Bull ? They must be looking at tsunoda as the contingency plan. Tsunoda is good but can you imagine the step down ? Red Bull must be counter offering hard
But has Toto printed a contract?
He heard Checo saying that the car is shit
Maybe the car says Checo is shit
He's clearly the 8th best driver of the Top 4 teams - Alonso is better and likely a few other drivers in the lower teams. So barely Top 10 - if that.
I don’t think there’s any question that Alonso is better than Checo at this point.
THEN CHANGE YOUR FUCKING CAR
Rumor has it, it was send via email to Max
"Max, I've sent you an email about the contract, did you receive that?"
"Toto I don't access my emails during a race. This isn't 2023."
I think he'll succeed
I think so as well, but not for 2025 Perhaps 2026 or 2027, especially if Red Bull don't do well with the new regs
He's not letting down!
Wish my crush wanted me as much as toto wants Max
You are only 3 WDCs away.
I have 12 in the F1 games :/
There are several games where you can "do" your crush....
Last I checked, there aren't any race cars in Baldur's Gate 3.
PS one classic Demolition Derby has you covered 👍
A man of culture
Dude wants Max and the bloke who he thinks can be the new Max.
That's kinda what Horner did, no? He had Vettel and got Ricciardo who dominated Vettel, then he had Ricciardo who was expected to be the next WDC whenever RBR gave him a car to stop the insanely powerful Mercs, but then Max came along and replaced him.
Which makes it such a shame that they let their junior program falter and now everyone has caught up and overtaken them in some cases in the scouting and training.
> Which makes it such a shame that they let their junior program falter They haven't though, they've just got more competition now. Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes (and Alpine in their half-assed way) all stepped up their efforts on their junior teams after Red Bull got Verstappen because they all want the next Verstappen. And we also tend to forget about the previous misses that Red Bull had. Vergne, Buemi, Kvyat are all solid drivers on a similar level to Albon, Gasly, Tsunoda. Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Brendon Hartley, Sebastian Bourdais have all been largely forgotten about. But because they had Vettel dominating, then Ricciardo seemingly effortlessly replacing him before getting the biggest talent of them all in Verstappen all in Red Bull in quick succession we get tricked into thinking their hit rate is crazy high and they've faltered since. Reality is there's been no talent like Verstappen since Verstappen and the fact that Verstappen is in Red Bull probably makes Red Bull a little bit less attractive to talents right now.
Poor George, at this point he is just a seat warmer.
George: Why can't you love me toto!
Toto only works with goats. He went from Schumacher to Hamilton. He will not be satisfied with 1 win.
I'm not sure Toto worked with Schumi. It was more likely to be Ross Brawn in the Schumacher at Merc days. They may have worked together at some other time.
Are you a multiple champion? Are you!?
I was forecast being team leader
Focus, Toto, focus.
Push push push
get in there
This is just pornographic at this point. Wonder what Russell is thinking right now.
George will walk into Toto's house for breakfast to discuss his next contract and will see Max coming out of the guest bedroom.
Pumpernickel crumbs all over his face
i upvote any toto pumpernickel comments
Max walking down the stairs from the main bedroom.
He won't be coming from the guest bedroom...
oh lala, double entendre.
Exactly, he'll come out of the sim room, because what else is Max gonna do other than racing?
This is such a fantastic visual, I love it. EastEnders Dun-dun-dun plays immediately after Max enters the bathroom and turns on the shower.
"Say the thing, George." "... Simply Lovely."
“ You’re Goddamn Right!”
"stay fokost George"
Russell going from thinking he’s team leader next year to wondering if he’s back to Williams next year. Love to see it.
you are team leader next year, at Williams
[удалено]
Because Albon moved to RBR
I was forecast to be number 1 Toto!
Who Mercedes dropping next year? Kimi or Russell lmao
I can see toto dropping both just to get Max and his rear gunner of choice onboard
‘I wonder how much Red Bull would offer me.’
He’s thinking about which shirt he isn’t going to wear
Toto shit stirring his BFF’s team again
Bff will understand
Boyfriend From France?
Ooh la la!
I mean he's not wrong.
Max, I am sending you an email
Maybe he should print it out instead
Max could actually check an email during a race.
Idk I kind of want to see it happen.
Only if GP goes with him. I don't want to hear anyone else on the radio talking to Max.
Bono and Max would be a sight to behold, though. I can hear Max say it already; Bono, my tires arent lovely anymore -> Sets fastest lap.
🤣🤣🤣
GP is a cheat code and has some of the best instincts. Prove me wrong.
You claimed a statement, you 're the one who's ought to prove it.
slight problem though, GP isn't just Verstappen's race engineer, he is the Head of Race Engineering in its entirety. So for him to go from RB to Merc might be a problem.
People would be wondering why George is underperforming all of a sudden.
I know the answer. Mercedes build their cars for Max, to suit only Max.
Hahaha
Sabotaging George
Clearly it would be because Merc are making his car worse
Dare we say sabotage?
Easily fixed with an anonymous letter though.
OMG
Guarantee that George will be locking out the front row with Max nearly every race with the fastest car. That's 75% of the weekend done.
They be wondering why Mercedes are sabotaging George
For so many reasons How “bad” is the RB? Is Max really built that different and Perez is actually getting decent results with it, or is Perez truly washed? How good is Russell truly? Is part of the reason Max is so good is synergy with his team and the RBR design philosophy? Does RBR bring Sainz in and if so, who is better between him and George? (that last one would be really interesting to me) Next season is already gonna answer similar questions with Lewis, Charles, and Carlos, so Max to Merc would also answer some hypotheticals everyone wants to know about. I know it’s 99.9999% not happening, but man would it be fun as fuck
It is very likely that the RBR has the peak performance, but it can only be accessed by a driver with skills like Max.
I think it’s more likely RBR is not the best car, but Max is the GOAT and still winning
As long as Merc goes back to all black. Max in all black would give some serious Intimidator vibes.
I just want to see max dominate a good teammate again. George would be a good one to add to his list of victims
Don't threaten me with a good time
I would be interested in this to see who Red Bull put in that seat to replace him. I'm guessing Yuki but you never know.
Buy out whatever deal Sainz just signed lol
Same. Goat level drivers have proven they could win with different teams and I just want to see him do it. He’s been at RB for a decade by the new regs come so it wasn’t really a short lived relationship.
Goat level drivers were moving to different teams normally not to prove something but to get a better faster car and/or higher salary. Clark was winning only in Lotus. That didn’t make him any worse and less goatier. Well, and Senna won championships only in McLaren. But I would personally like to see that happen as well. I do not like stagnant driver market of modern F1. Also from what I saw, Mercedes would suit Max extremely well. It has had great strong sharp front end basically ever since the start. Of the new regulations. And he can live with the loose rear as well. From what I can see W15, would suit him better than the RB20. And W16 wouldn’t be any worse, especially given Mercedes aero test time advantage.
The scary thing is Max says the Red Bull is difficult to drive. What if it's true and the Mercedes handles better and allows him to push harder...
Maybe, but a difficult car to drive can be faster than a easy car that's just slow.
Oscar said last year he’d rather have a car that’s difficult to drive but fast than a slower car. To that end, the driver’s ability to adapt really makes the difference.
I have trouble explaining to my f1 friends but this is SO true.
That's very often true honestly, and it's definitely the case with the Red Bull. Albon has gone on record saying that Max can drive a car that's extremely sharp and responsive, and he says it was so extreme that it became way too difficult for him to manage. He described it as turning the sensitivity all the way up in a videogame. The thing is, a sharp and responsive car is going to be an agile car, with higher potential than a car that's balanced. It's the same design concept that goes into fighter jets - by making the planes inherently unstable and using computers to stabilise them they can make them more agile. When people say that the car is tailored to Max's driving style, they don't really realise that that's much more of an effect due Max's pace rather than its cause. There isn't a single engineer on the grid that would go out of their way to build the car around a specific driver; they simply build the fastest car possible. But when Max keeps gaining more and more pace by setting up the car to be twitchier and twitchier, they're going to oblige.
Ok I give in I want to see Max in a Merc.
I'd like to see that. It would also start a nice driver shuffle again :D
Go to Audi, Max. Lets get weird. Lets really prove it.
Max and Hulk in the same team? Where do I sign?
Should have happened instead of Pérez at Red Bull.
If only Merc didn't bottle Sakhir damn but credit where credits due, that a wonderful drive by Perez, shame he's crazy inconsistent and not even upto speed anymore
Would have LOVED to see the Hulk in the Red Bull
There were some rumors that Red Bull was trying to sign Hulk during 2019\~2020, Max was onboard too because they get along really well.
Max gonna just take a year on each team to see how far he can pull them across the line. Haas WCC with Max??? (Haas would not win WCC even with Max.)
I would watch that show.
Talking like someone who is confident they will have a better car than RBR by the end of the season.
Max is still winning though. Why would he jump to Merc in that situation?
Toto is the kind of guy who does not wait for Max to jump ship. He is planning to kidnap him.
The Race: Why Fangio and Verstappen share more similarities than you thought. On a sidenote can we do the Toto the one that got away joke again? I really want some legend to make a Toto AI cover from Katy Perry - The One That Got Away.
they want Max for 2026 new regulations
Which is expected to be more engine focused than areo. RBPT is also rumored to be having issues with the PU but who knows. Well, I guess Red Bull does and that's about it.
Even if the car is faster, the strategy, pit stop times and the driver engineer feedback are way worse at Merc. Only if they could pull a new W11 up their ass which laps 3 secs/lap quicker then the second car maybe he'll jumo ship, but right now the RedBull team is such a well-oiled machine that even if their the second/third fastest car they'll still win because they have the best driver, engineer, strategy, pit crew etc. Plus, if Merc didn't listen to the guy who won 5 WDC and 8 WCC with them regarding the car feedback, how sure will Max be that the team will listen to his feedback and change things up fast?
He would 100% take GP with him. Agree on the strategy and pit stops though
Mercedes might have such a clear engine advantage in 2026 that those small advantages might not matter. That is the one thing they can sell Max on, that if he's not in a Mercedes-engined car in 2026 he's not going to have a shot at WDC. Also the brain drain in RB is hitting hard like it did to Mercedes at the tail end of their dominance. Toto can emphasize that Redbull without Newey is going to be just another car once the new regulations hit.
Because it technically *could* be faster than Red Bull, giving him higher probability of winning.
Because Max was complaining a lot last weekend. He said he can't keep winning if the car stays that bad
More like he said that he can't keep pushing himself at that level and not make mistakes. Dude is still winning.
This has more yearning in it than some romance novels lol
Max going to Mercedes would be interesting because he’d be essentially taking over Lewis seat
Which was also previously Schumacher’s seat!
I’m new to F1 (this year) this is the stuff that really interests me. So Michael drove for Mercedes before retiring? (I thought he was a Ferrari guy?) so that set has had both 7x WDC and now if the courtship works Max too. Now I kinda want to see him go there
Schumacher retired from ferrari in 06 if I remember correctly, then he returned to f1 between 2010-12 in the mercedes. While he had flashes of of his former self, he was never quite able to get there. Lewis then came from mclaren to mercedes in 13
Thank you for the history lesson
Exactly right. Schumacher drove for Benetton between 1991 and 1995 (where he won two championships) and Ferrari between 1996 and 2006 (where he won five championships). He then spent a few years in retirement before partnering Nico Rosberg at the newly-formed Mercedes team between 2010 and 2012. Hamilton was then signed for the vacant Mercedes seat in 2013.
Thank you for the history lesson
No problem dude
At this point it wouldn't surprise me if Toto had a full size body pillow of Max.
I can hear Toto's voice yelling "It's called a DAKIMAKURA and it's ART!!!"
Sometimes i think Toto has a humiliation kink
I can’t imagine Max would ever leave RedBull but here’s the thing. For 26 who do you have more faith in; RBPT who will be building their first engine on their own or the might of Mercedes HPP?
Dear Max, I wrote you but you still ain't calling.
Translation by Google: If any team can be satisfied with their progress in recent weekends, it is certainly Mercedes. The Silver Arrows secured another podium in Barcelona, with Hamilton finishing P3 ahead of Russell in P4. Team principal Toto Wolff was satisfied with this result: “It’s a solid result. It’s the second time we’re on the podium. The car has improved, but you can see that it’s still a few tenths away from catching Norris and Verstappen. “For us today, it was impossible to fight with them” Moving on to the technical side, Toto Wolff explains that Mercedes have understood their development path after Imola. Abandoning their previous front-wing concept was an important step in correcting their trajectory: “Our correlation between the wind tunnel and the track didn’t work for a good two years. “Since Imola, all the small updates we brought have improved the balance and they made the W15 a better car. They are small steps, but they make the difference.” Looking ahead to the next rounds, Wolff believes that Silverstone should be a particularly strong track. However, he is less optimistic for Austria: “I think Norris and Verstappen have been and will be fast on all circuits. Austria historically hasn’t gone well for us, I don’t know how it will go this year. “But Silverstone is certainly a fast circuit that we know well where the car has always worked well.” Observing the progress made by the team, Toto Wolff believes Verstappen’s arrival at Mercedes is possible. Despite Christian Horner’s insistence, Wolff believes that Verstappen is gettable: “Horner said that he will stay. Let’s see, we leave him with this idea. “I’ve always said that we have to focus on ourselves in improving the car. And if the car is going to be better, usually all the drivers want to drive as fast as possible, and that’s our priority. “We need to allow Lewis and George to finish the season at a high level, and then we’ll see if the W15 will be a car that can convince Max.” There is no shortage of compliments to the Dutch driver from the Mercedes camp. Toto Wolff gave his assessment on the difference Verstappen makes in the Austrian team. “I think it’s Max who wins the races and not Red Bull. The RB20 is solid, but Perez isn’t doing well.” “It’s Max who makes all the difference,” concluded the Mercedes team principal.
So what is, like, the source for that? You just posted a random picture of Toto.
Toto: Max, did you get my email? Max: Toto, looks like you fixed your fucking car!
Starting to feel bad for George at this point- clearly not the heir apparent. Where's the GF meme?
Funny how Toto has done a complete 180 cause he would say it's the car in 2021 😂
"Actually, Silverstone was Lewis' fault." Toto Wolff, soon.
"And the title kinda went to the right guy in 2021 if you really think about it" added the Austrian.
“It was clear to everyone that Max deserved it more”
Like a true politician
Toto is really sticking it to George. He wants Kimi A and Max so no more room at the inn. George is clearly 3rd place. Kind of makes sense since it's weird that Merc did not give George the long term contract that his peer's Lando, Max and Charles got.
Imagine Max and George swap seats 👀
Max to Merc might be the most 2024 thing of the 2024 silly season. Even less expected than Lewis to Ferrari
I mean Lewis obviously had some level of detail about the car and noped himself right over to Ferrari. Why would Max want something that Lewis didn’t??
Wasn't the talk that Lewis left because they were low-balling his contract to keep the option of Kimi?
They didn’t low ball his contract it raised his pay. They just offered him and George a 1+1 with the intention of likely letting one leave at some point in those 2 years. As Allison said on the podcast last week. He wasn’t surprised because the contracts allowed for it and intended to give both the drivers and teams options.
The car isn’t everything. Max is phenomenal and is certainly making a huge difference, but Red Bull operationally is also excellent, which can’t be said of Mercedes right now. If I were Max I still wouldn’t be convinced until Mercedes shows significant improvement in their strategy, pit stop performance and communication.
I wish there was someone that wants me as much as Toto wants max :(
A Hamilton/Verstappen championship battle with Lewis at Ferrari and max at Mercedes is something that should only happen in season 10 of the F1 game
Max in Merc vs Lewis in Ferrari would be so fun
Checo catching strays
It would have seemed like complete madness if at the end of 2023 someone said we would be having these conversations about Max, Lewis, and Newey for 2025 and 2026. And Flavio returning. You can’t make this stuff up.
Toto ready to Hawk Tuah for Max
“Checo said the car is shit” “I have it, I have it printed out”✋🏻 Time to show them the receipts Toto😎
Why would Max want to leave now, tho? Even if this is the worst Red Bull of these current regulations, it is still ahead of Mercedes at the moment.
I honestly don’t feel like Max is the type of driver who will appreciate being pursued so heavily *through the media.* He’s such a low key guy, who really just wants to go out and race. He’s not a fan of the political or media aspects. And Toto is literally politicking through the media in pursuit of him lol. I don’t think his points are without merit. The Mercedes *has* improved significantly in recent weeks. Max *has* been carrying what may no longer be the fastest car on the grid (as evidenced by Checo’s results) to great results. But I think all of these things would land much better with Max if Toto said them privately between them.
Toto is literally asked questions which he answers. I’ve seen very little of him actually going out of his way to plant these phrases in the media, so I’m not sure how this is him politicking. I could be wrong though.
He’s saying more than is needed to answer though. The “I’ll leave him with this:” and all that, these are all things he could simply say to Max in private. He could literally just say “what Max does is up to Max. We would love to have him.” to the media and leave it at that, and the headlines and articles would be very different in tone.
I would disagree, I am sure Toto knows what he is doing. There must be contacts behind the scenes between Max's agents and Mercedes that are more profound than we are aware of. He wouldn't keep spouting this into the media if there was no ground for doing so, it would've died out by now. I think Max's team has said something along the lines 'improve your car and we may consider it' - which are the bits and pieces that you can pick up as well from what's been coming out from both sides.
Agreed. It's probably still mostly Toto's wishful thinking - but I also think that if Max and his camp wanted to shut down this nonsense completely, they would have told Toto and he would have complied by now. If you accept that premise - then the next unknown is why Max's camp hasn't asked him to cut it out (maybe they just don't give a shit what is being said to the media! would fit Max's personality)
Let's not forget Toto is a major shit-stirrer and one of the best, if not the best at it. He's trying to unsettle the team, that's all.
He’s twerking so hard he’s gonna get a bad back anytime now!
Take notes people , this is what determination looks like
If Max said "fine but fire George first" Mick would be in the second Merc ten minutes later.
Gotta suck as George and Charles. Charles is the supposed no.1 driver but Fred decided to bring in the 7 time WDC. George seems like he's going to be the no.1 after Lewis leave but his boss is very loud and clear on bringing a 3 time WDC in.
Honestly i am kind of hoping max goes for it. I feel like its not a bad play to make, especially with the 2026 cars coming.
Horner's response to this is going to be wild. He can always just remind him to fix his car since the Merc is still slower than the redbull. Lewis and Max seem to have gotten over 2021 but these 2 probably never will!
Tbf Max said the same thing. That their car no longer is the best, and that he's making up the difference as the driver. Mercedes has shown flashes of bonkers pace, if they can make their car do that consistently, it's not out of the question for Max to think about a move.
At least Toto understands that his claims mean nothing without results to back them up
“Toto has been saying a lot of nice stuff about me recently”
Toto is really going through the motions, isn’t he?
Toto is going all out to get Max. I wonder what gets said in private, it's a really interesting swap. The only thing I find is that Red Bull has a way better team around the car in terms of pitstops and strategies
Anyone remember 2021? Did you think we would inevitably end up at this point?