Toto Wolff reveals advising Max Verstappen to choose Red Bull over Mercedes

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently revealed that Max Verstappen could have been a Mercedes driver back in 2014 if it wasn't for the long-term contracts the team had already signed with their drivers. Hence, Wolff advised him to make the move to Red Bull.

Max Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso under the Red Bull banner in 2015. The Dutch driver had an impressive year, which saw him get promoted to Red Bull Racing in the very next season.

While he is currently dominating the grid and was Mercedes' competitor in 2021, Toto Wolff revealed that he had an opportunity to sign the Dutchman for the Silver Arrows back in 2014.

However, at that point in time, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg already had long-term contracts. For this reason, Wolff had to lose Verstappen to Helmut Marko and Red Bull. In conversation with Motorsport Italy, Wolff stated that the team could have found a place for him in GP2.

"Yes, but I didn't have a Formula 1 steering wheel to offer him. We had Lewis and Nico and both had long-term contracts, Max was clearly an interesting youngster but at that moment we could have offered him a place in GP2 and then maybe a contract," he said.

Wolff also added that when Helmut Marko made Verstappen an offer to join Red Bull, he advised him to take that opportunity.

"But Helmut was able to offer him a seat in Formula 1 and I finally advised him to go that route too. And that meant seeing him leave the Mercedes orbit," Wolff added.

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Wolff believes it is beneficial to have a second team like Max Verstappen's debut F1 team

Red Bull is currently the only grid on the team to have a sister team; AlphaTauri (previously known as Toro Rosso). Max Verstappen came through that route as he joined Red Bull's sister team in 2015 before moving to the main team. This helped them give the Dutchman a chance with lower stakes and ascertain if he was good enough for the main outfit.

When asked if having two teams is beneficial, Wolff replied in the affirmative but pointed out that the cost of maintaining a sister team can be a prohibitive factor.

"It is undoubtedly an advantage to be able to have a team like they have (Red Bull) in which to evaluate the drivers on the field. It was a great advantage in their case to have the possibility to evaluate Honda before moving to the main team, but it is a very expensive operation," he said.

As far as the ongoing 2023 season is concerned, Max Verstappen looks set to win a third consecutive world championship. His RB19 is probably the fastest car on the grid.

While Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are still trying to push their W14 to the top of the grid, the car seems to have progressed from where it was at the beginning of the season.