"Toto Wolff loves Max Verstappen more than Susie Wolff": Fans react to Mercedes boss revealing top 2 contenders to replace Lewis Hamilton

F1 fans reacted after Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that Max Verstappen is one of the two top contenders to replace Lewis Hamilton at the German team next year. The Austrian has been assessing the driver's market since Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari for the 2025 season in February.

Although Verstappen is contracted with Red Bull until the 2028 season, Wolff has expressed his desire to sign the three-time world champion for Mercedes on multiple occasions.

Speaking to Autosportwereld ahead of the Belgian GP, the Mercedes team boss revealed the top two candidates that he had been considering as Lewis Hamilton's replacement and said:

"At the moment, my first option is Kimi. An alternative scenario is of course Verstappen, but atm that doesn't seem realistic. I will continue to observe the market. I am not sure how things will evolve further at Red Bull."

F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to Wolff's comments on Max Verstappen. One fan said that given the public courting of the Dutch driver, the 52-year-old Wolff loves Verstappen more than his wife:

"Toto loves Max more then Susie."

Another fan concurred:

"He just loves Max, doesn’t he?"

"He is hell-bent in wanting max, the dedication tho."

"How is he still clinging onto max?" asked a fan.

"I can't see max in merc. But the memes of totto and max Romance will hit hard," said a fan.

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Max Verstappen lays out his plans to win Belgian GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said that he's focused on surviving Lap 1 in the main race as he starts from P11 after getting the pole position in the qualifying session.

In his post-qualifying press conference, the 26-year-old said:

"Survive lap one and just go from there. I mean, we also have a bit of a different tire strategy to the other cars, so we have to wait and see how that will evolve in the race. But, yeah, we'll see what we can do.

"I mean, I'm not as confident as I was the last two years around here in coming back to the front. I still see it more as a damage-limitation race. That's how it is. But at least today was the best possible we could do in terms of the starting position for tomorrow." he added.

Max Verstappen has won the previous editions of the Belgian GP starting from P14 and P6 in the 2022 and 2023 seasons respectively, as he had taken an engine penalty similar to this year.

He's going for a fourth consecutive race win at the Spa-Francorchamps, having won a controversial race in 2021.