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Mercedes Executive Director expressed regret over not hiring Max Verstappen when they had the chance. The Austrian admitted being interested in the Dutchman in his junior years and having met his father, Jos Verstappen, to discuss his career.
Speaking to ESPN about losing an opportunity to hire the Dutchman, Wolff said:
“I spoke to Jos and Huub Rothengatter [Jos Verstappen’s manager during his F1 career] when they came to my office in Brackley and that must have been when Max was in karting or the end of his karting days [in 2013] just before Formula 3 [in 2014]."
He added:
"And then we spoke again when Max and Jos visited me in my house in Vienna. We spent a few hours discussing his future. Do I regret missing out on Max? Certainly. We had two drivers that I was extremely happy with, in Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis [Hamilton], and when Nico left [at the end of 2016], Valtteri [Bottas] was then the option and Max wasn’t even available.”
He continued:
“Would Max and Lewis have functioned? Maybe not. And Lewis is a Mercedes guy since forever, so that hard question I never needed to ask myself for the organisation. Everything happens for a reason. But I had two drivers in the seats, no deal with a junior team, so it was clear that the option with Toro Rosso was what they needed to do and they did well. After that we always had friendly contact but never discussing driving.”
Wolff admitted having a meeting with Max Verstappen in the karting years and even when he was in the junior feeder series. However, the Austrian felt that as much as he regretted hiring the Dutchman, the current reigning champion was no longer available after Red Bull had hired him into their junior team.
By the time the Mercedes boss wanted Max Verstappen after Nico Rosberg’s departure, the Red Bull driver had already been hired as the team’s start talent.
The Austrian team boss doubts if the Dutchman would have worked alongside Lewis Hamilton in their driver lineup. Given the clashes between the duo since the 2021 season, Wolff’s analogy is understandable.
Toto Wolff doubted the potential of Max Verstappen prior to Formula 1
Toto Wolff claims he had not anticipated the surge of Max Verstappen and his potential in the past. When the Dutchman was available for Mercedes, Esteban Ocon had won the championship and was chosen as a Mercedes junior driver.
The current Formula E driver was also one of their junior drivers, as he had won a DTM championship at the age of 21, making him the youngest DTM champion.
The Mercedes team boss felt at that time that one could not anticipate the Dutchman’s potential because his team, Van Amersfoort, did not have a competitive car and were not competitive enough.
Unlike Wolff, Red Bull junior team principal Franz Tost had seen potential in the Dutchman from the start, as he said in his exclusive interview with Sportskeeda in 2022.
Describing the scenario with Max Verstappen from the F3 years, Wolff said:
“Back in the day I think there wasn’t huge hype around Max, because Max and Van Amersfoort weren’t winning the championship that year. Esteban [Ocon] won in a more competitive car. You can only say when someone grows in Formula One and matures that he is a true world champion — an outstanding one."
He further said:
"Before we had Lewis and then Michael Schumacher and before that [Ayrton] Senna. Who is the next one? Was it clear that Max would step into these shoes? It wasn’t clear back then.”
Max Verstappen was hired by Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso, at the age of 17, making him the youngest driver in the history of the sport. When the Dutchman was hot property and had shown his potential, Red Bull promoted him to the senior team to avoid him getting poached by their rivals, who were sniffing around.
In a brutal mid-season driver change in 2016, the Dutch champion was swapped with Daniel Kyvat at the Spanish GP, where he claimed his first victory. While the swap was considered controversial, the victory silenced the critics.
Both Ferrari and Mercedes have regrets about not hiring the current world champion when they had the chance. Having grown up in the Red Bull camp, Max Verstappen has flourished in the atmosphere and continues to succeed seamlessly.
