How Wolff’s joke about Verstappen in Zandvoort has become the new reality in F1

Every time Max Verstappen has spoken about F1’s new technical regulations, he immediately added one very important disclaimer: his opinion about the new ruleset is separate from the competitive picture. “Yes, because if I were winning, I would still say exactly the same.”

It means that the two elements must be viewed separately: the competitive picture and Verstappen’s dissatisfaction with the direction F1 has taken. And it also means that in essence two different solutions are required from his perspective. Red Bull needs to find a lot of performance, mainly on the chassis side — something team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged in Suzuka — while Verstappen is simultaneously waiting to see what adjustments the FIA will make.

As far as the latter is concerned, the four-time world champion has already accepted that no fundamental changes will take place during the 2026 season. He expects little from this break and the major meeting scheduled for April 9. Verstappen said he is speaking with the governing body behind the scenes about possible improvements, mainly in the hope that “bigger things” can be changed for 2027. The extent to which that does or does not happen seems crucial for his future decisions.

Wolff already joked about the current situation in Zandvoort

Nevertheless, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff shared the impression that both aspects are still connected to some extent. After the Chinese Grand Prix, when asked about Verstappen’s criticism, the Austrian noted that he is currently in a “horror show” with Red Bull’s new car.

“I mean, Max is really in a horror show. When you look at the onboard that he had in qualifying yesterday, that is just horrendous to drive,” the Mercedes team boss said in Shanghai. “And you can see that, but it’s not the same with many other teams.”

That same Wolff also responded to rather strange rumours in the Austrian press in the days after the Chinese Grand Prix, which once again linked Verstappen with Mercedes — this time completely out of nowhere.

“The amazing thing is that these silly rumors are already popping up in March. It’s silly enough that we usually have to talk about this in July. I don’t know who brought this up again,” Wolff replied to OE24.

“We have two drivers with whom we have long-term, multi-year contracts. I couldn’t be happier with the two of them. Both are delivering top-notch performances, so there’s absolutely no reason to even consider a line-up change or other drivers. I say this with the utmost respect for Max.”

Although these rumours are unfounded and the timing in March is indeed rather laughable, Wolff’s reaction is still interesting. His statements and Mercedes’ current results underline exactly the risk Verstappen took by deciding not to make the switch to the German manufacturer at the end of last year.

Wolff acknowledged several times last season that he had spoken with the Verstappens — something he repeated once again in the Netflix series Drive to Survive — explaining that it was simply his duty as team principal to explore what a four-time world champion was planning.

Verstappen ultimately decided to remain loyal to Red Bull. Given the political reality at the time — with the dismissal of Christian Horner and the promotion of Mekies, with whom Verstappen gets along well — that decision can be explained quite easily. Moreover, the idea was that the Dutchman could first see how the cards would fall under the new regulations, meaning that any potential switch would no longer be a gamble but an assessment based on the facts.

However, the downside was frequently discussed in the paddock and has now in a way become reality: if Mercedes were to emerge as the dominant force under the new ruleset, Wolff would no longer necessarily need Verstappen to bring the Brackley-based team back to winning ways.

It is linked to negotiating positions and financial aspects: around mid-2025 the competitive picture under the new rules was still a question mark. Now it is clear that Mercedes can win with its current line-up as well, making it less necessary to pay enormous sums for a big name in the form of a multiple world champion.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, speaks with Raymond Vermeulen, manager of Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Incidentally, Wolff spoke about exactly this topic last year during an entertaining and widely referred to media session with the Dutch press in Zandvoort:

Question: So it might be a good thing then that Max stays at Red Bull now? You don’t have to pay him 100 million a year next year, and you can first see which team has the best car for 2027?

Wolff: Hopefully us. And then I only need to pay 10%. And that’s exactly what I said to Raymond Vermeulen.

Question: And what did Raymond say?

Wolff: Raymond said ‘cheap Austrian’, and then I said ‘greedy Dutch!’ [laughs]

Although this was said with a smile — in line with the tone of that entire media session — it does reflect the current situation. Reports in Italian media suggesting that the door would therefore be completely closed for the foreseeable future seem somewhat premature and also too simplistic. For a four-time world champion with Verstappen’s stature, doors can always open.
However, the necessity for Mercedes to look around has clearly become much smaller than it was a year ago.

First of all, Kimi Antonelli is beginning to fulfil his promise as an absolute top talent, and secondly the car appears competitive enough to win all races of the season so far even without Verstappen behind the wheel. From Mercedes’ perspective, the urgency of the flirtation that came out last summer has therefore diminished significantly.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Question about ‘life decisions’ more important than anything else

The very first step — and by far the most important one — remains that Verstappen himself thinks about what he called “life decisions” in Japan: in other words, deciding whether he wants to stay in F1 after this season. Everything else is secondary to that and will only come into play afterwards.

The follow-up questions are linked to many other factors, things that cannot even be discussed in April and need a lot more time, such as Red Bull’s development curve in solving its current issues and other developments on the driver market.

Verstappen’s name will, as in every silly season, likely play a prominent role again if he decides to remain in F1 — especially if Red Bull does not manage to improve the RB22 quickly. However, the situation regarding Mercedes now looks different compared to roughly ten months ago.

The door may not necessarily be completely closed, as suggested elsewhere — Wolff being able to offer Verstappen a competitive car and thereby preventing him from walking away still sounds like an appealing narrative in a way — but the first question remains what Verstappen himself wants regarding his future. Everything else is secondary to that and therefore a matter for later.

But as far as all those other aspects are concerned, Wolff’s joke in Zandvoort now appears somewhat prophetic. The ‘cheap Austrian’ that he was referred to currently seems to have all the facts on his side.

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– The Autosport.com Team