Mercedes boss Toto Wolff gives his honest opinion on US president Donald Trump's 'Tariffs'

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has termed US President Donald Trump's 'tariffs' regime as a bit of a socio-economic experiment, but admitted F1 has not been affected by this yet. The entire economic landscape of the world seems to be evolving as global leader America has seen a change in leadership and, with that, a change in ideology on how trade would be done.

Trump has been in the news constantly since his re-election, as he has ushered in a tariff regime where the country would start charging for anything that is imported. This has led to a global slowdown in the stock markets as investors are not sure what the future holds.

For F1 as well as a sport, there are concerns. These concerns stem from the fact that the sport has been trying to grow in the region. These tariffs could potentially trigger a global recession that could have a direct impact on investments entering the sport.

The question was put to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff during the press conference in Jeddah, where the Austrian said that he's keeping a close eye on what was going on. Calling the whole thing a 'socio-economic' experiment, Wolff assured that F1 as a sport had not yet had any blowback. He said, via PlanetF1:

“What’s happening, what’s panning out in front of our eyes and on a global level, is almost like a socio-economic experiment. It’s quite entertaining to be reading CNN and then FOX News and try to figure out what’s actually happening.”

He added:

“You clearly see a negative sentiment of some of our partners in the US because they don’t know what it means for their business, how the tariffs and the geopolitical situation is going to impact their business going forward. It hasn’t hit us yet. We have a group of great partners at Mercedes that stands 100% behind Formula 1. It’s a very dynamic situation in terms of the auto tariffs.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff declines any conversation with Max Verstappen

Moving on from the global impact of tariffs, the other big news during the F1 Saudi Arabian GP was the conversation around Max Verstappen's future. It was reported that the driver was looking for his way out of Red Bull by the end of the season.

One of the teams where Verstappen could potentially end up was Mercedes, but team boss Toto Wolff poured cold water on any such suggestion. Claiming that he was happy with his current lineup, he said:

"I always say I don't flirt outside if I'm happy in the relationship on a professional level. I'm super happy with the line-up we have, I couldn't wish for anything better. Max is at Red Bull, we haven't had a conversation, we are continuing our trajectory."

Mercedes has shown major improvement this season in terms of the car, as the German team continues to build and get stronger. The team is now 2nd in the championship and has been led admirably.