Toto Wolff reveals key issue holding up Mercedes signing Max Verstappen Associated PressToto Wolff has admitted that he would \u201clove\u201d to sign Max Verstappen for Mercedes, but insisted that the team need to \u201csort out\u201d their car before they can realistically consider the move. Verstappen continued his perfect start to the F1 season as he won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix \u2013 his ninth straight victory overall. The Dutchman has now won 19 of the last 20 races, as he looks to improve on his incredible record of winning all but three grands prix last year. Yet with rumours emerging that the Red Bull senior hierarchy could be set for drastic change, talk has begun over what could be a sensational move for Verstappen to join Mercedes. Wolff would \u2018love\u2019 Verstappen at Mercedes Silver Arrows team principal, Wolff, has made no secret over his desire to add the three-time world champion to his driver line-up, especially with Lewis Hamilton set to join Ferrari in 2025. Yet the Austrian is all too aware that there is one major roadblock in the team\u2019s bid to sign the Red Bull star \u2013 their car. \u201cI\u2019d love to have him,\u201d said Wolff. \u201cBut first we need to sort out our car. I think we owe it to our drivers, George [Russell] and Lewis, to improve the car and give them equipment that is good before dreaming about the future next year.\u201d \u201cI think we are going to wait,\u201d he added when asked on Mercedes\u2019 plans to make a decision on replacing Hamilton. \u201cWe have a few interesting options, and the more we are able to assess how the season pans out, young drivers with us against slightly older ones \u2013 that\u2019s not going to be a decision which we want to take in the next few weeks, it\u2019s rather a few months depending on where it goes.\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s word it like this,\u201d Wolff said on the possibility of Mercedes signing Verstappen. \u201cI think this is a decision that Max needs to take, and there is no team up and down the grid who wouldn\u2019t do handstands to have him in the car.\u201d Verstappen is looking to become the second Red Bull driver to win four successive drivers\u2019 titles with the team, as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel who achieved the feat from 2010-2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Toto Wolff reveals key issue holding up Mercedes signing Max Verstappen Associated PressToto Wolff has admitted that he would \u201clove\u201d to sign Max Verstappen for Mercedes, but insisted that the team need to \u201csort out\u201d their car before they can realistically consider the move. Verstappen continued his perfect start to the F1 season as he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}