- Marko doubts Wolff’s success in luring Verstappen to Mercedes after Hamilton’s departure.
- Verstappen emphasizes competitive equipment’s role in his F1 future.
- Commercial challenges aside, Verstappen’s commitment to Red Bull seems solid.
Helmut Marko, the Director of Red Bull F1, suspects that Toto Wolff might attempt to lure Max Verstappen to Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton’s departure. However, he is skeptical about the success of his Austrian colleague’s efforts.
Hamilton has decided to make a surprising move to Ferrari at the conclusion of the 2024 season, bringing his 11-year stint with the Brackley-based team to an end. This leaves Wolff with the task of finding a replacement for a driver who won six of his seven F1 drivers’ titles with the Silver Arrows.
The team is also likely to face a considerable commercial challenge, as Hamilton is a well-known figure and has more marketing potential than any of his contemporaries. The only competitor who could potentially match Hamilton’s marketability and talent is Verstappen.
After winning three consecutive titles with Red Bull, Marko anticipates that Wolff might make a move in the forthcoming months. “Toto Wolff will try that – but he will be unsuccessful,” he stated to the German publication Sport.
Marko is of the opinion that Verstappen’s “good memory” of his interactions with Hamilton and Mercedes, particularly during their notable 2021 title contest, will deter him from ever joining the Silver Arrows. Another important consideration is the contract that the Dutch driver has until the end of the 2028 season.
With five more full seasons under this contract and Red Bull currently leading as the top team in F1, Verstappen is well-positioned to continue his significant success by staying with his current team. Furthermore, there is a chance that he may not sign another F1 contract, even though he will only be 31 when the current agreement ends.
Verstappen has expressed his desire to retire from F1 at a relatively young age. He has admitted that a key factor in that decision, when the time comes, will be whether he still has the equipment to compete for more race wins and championships.
“Depends a lot also on the package, right? That’s how Formula 1 works. Personally, I’m still young even though I’m already in F1 for a while. Definitely, I have quite a few more years in me to be able to operate at my best. But yeah, we’ll see how long that is. To be honest, I think it’s more about how long I want to be here. That’s different,” he commented last year.
“Depends how far back on the grid. I know there will be a time when you’re not winning but, yeah, probably when you’re driving P15, maybe not. But if you’re still fighting up front, trying to win races and you have this prospect of coming back to the top, for sure.”
