“I can’t imagine Toto Wolff wanting Max Verstappen”: Jacques Villeneuve on Mercedes boss’ public pursuit of 3x F1 champion

Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve is of the opinion that Toto Wolff would never sign Max Verstappen to drive for Mercedes, despite the Austrian executive's previous statements reflecting an interest in the driver.

Mercedes is yet to finalize the driver who will replace Lewis Hamilton once he moves to Ferrari in the 2025 F1 season. While he did point some drivers out, the one that caught all the limelight was none other than Red Bull's Max Verstappen. He has dominated the grid for the past two seasons and still leads the championship. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff mentioned earlier that he would "love to" have Verstappen race for them, but it wasn't completely possible because of his current contract with RBR.

Despite this statement, Villeneuve feels that Wolff would never sign a contract with him because of the history that the team has shared with Verstappen during the 2021 season. Furthermore, he feels that he only mentioned this to "annoy" Red Bull. Speaking to The Express, the Canadian driver stated:

"I can't imagine Toto Wolff wanting Max. The only way he would entertain the idea would just be to annoy Red Bull. I can't see him at Mercedes because they lost the championship to Red Bull and Max. It would definitely not be because he really wanted Max."

Max Verstappen currently has a contract with Red Bull until the 2028 F1 season and there seems to be no reason for him to break away from it. However, he does have the option to do that, as team principal Christian Horner stated earlier.

---

Max Verstappen addresses speculations of him departing from Red Bull

RBR team principal Christian Horner's comments about Max Verstappen being allowed to leave the team if he wishes to come at a sensitive time when the team was considered to be in turmoil.

Horner was cleared of the allegations that were put against him calling him out for alleged "inappropriate" behavior against his employees. Despite being cleared after an investigation, the team was in a sensitive situation with Jos Verstappen (Max's father) talking about the possible threats to the team.

This further grew speculation that the three-time world champion Max Verstappen might be looking to get away from the team. Recently addressing these rumors, Verstappen told the Dutch publication AD:

“At the moment nobody is afraid of that, I think. Two weeks back, though? Mwah, that may be. But some people also read a lot, I don’t. And I think in general that does help. That’s what I do try to tell people, yes, that they better not read it all for a while, certain things. And if there are any questions, anyone in the team can always call me.”

Verstappen still leads the world championship, but his DNF at the Australian GP has brought Ferrari's Charles Leclerc much closer to him. As of now, the two stand only four points apart in the championship.