Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, made no secret of his desire to land Verstappen before opting to promote teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s successor.
It remains to be seen whether Mercedes will renew their interest in Verstappen ahead of F1’s major regulation changes in 2026.
Antonelli was confirmed as George Russell’s team-mate for F1 2025 at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, where Verstappen could only manage a sixth-placed finish – his worst result since May’s Monaco GP – as Red Bull’s woes continued.
Verstappen went on to describe the RB20 car as a “monster”, urging the team to “turn the car upside down” in order to get their faltering campaign back on track.
It is said that Verstappen’s bond with team principal Christian Horner ‘has been cut’, with the high-profile departures of design legend Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull’s long-serving sporting director, perceived in some quarters as a major blow to the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
With “many question marks” over Red Bull’s in-house engine project for 2026, Verstappen is reportedly keen to leave – yet a lack of alternative options could force him to take a sabbatical.
With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri under long-term contracts at McLaren, and Hamilton and Charles Leclerc tied to multi-year deals with Ferrari, Mercedes could represent Verstappen’s only hope of moving elsewhere.
Mercedes opted against specifying the exact length of Antonelli’s contract following the confirmation of his promotion at Monza, with George Russell’s current deal set to expire at the end of F1 2025.
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