F1, Toto Wolff confesses a backstory on Max Verstappen

F1, Toto Wolff confesses a backstory on Max Verstappen

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confessed to ESPN’s microphones about the impossibility of having signed current Formula One leader Max Verstappen. “I talked to Jos and Huub Rothengatter [Jos Verstappen’s manager during his F1 career] when they came to my office in Brackley, it was between late 2013 and early 2014. Then we talked again when Max and Jos came to visit me at my home in Vienna. We spent a few hours discussing his future. Do I regret losing Max? Certainly,” he admitted, “but at the time it was not an option. We had two drivers I was extremely happy with, Nico and Lewis, and when Nico left [at the end of the 2016 season], Valtteri [Bottas] was the option and Max was no longer even available.”

“Would Max and Lewis together have worked? Maybe not,” the German team boss added, “but Lewis has always been a Mercedes man, so I never needed to ask myself this difficult question from an organizational point of view. Everything happens for a reason. I already had two drivers on the team, no agreement with a junior team, and so it was clear that the option with Toro Rosso was what [the Verstappens] had to do. And they did well.”