P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Toto Wolff on the prospect of hiring Max Verstappen amid a volatile environment at Red Bull.
Toto Wolff was asked directly if he was pursuing Max Verstappen to influence the dismissal of Christian Horner from Red Bull. Red Bull recently removed Horner from his long-standing role as team principal and promoted Laurent Mekies to take over. Wolff and Horner have a well-known rivalry, stemming from the intense competition between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 season. There are speculations that Horner’s removal might be connected to Red Bull’s efforts to retain Verstappen amid interest from Mercedes. Despite inquiries about using Verstappen to edge out Horner, Wolff denied employing such tactics and emphasized the importance of exploring Verstappen’s plans for the future as the Mercedes team principal. Wolff compared the potential pairing of Verstappen and George Russell to the iconic duo of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at McLaren in the late 1980s, underscoring the strategic considerations behind driver decisions at Mercedes.
