General
Wolff plays the Red Bull game smartly and aims for top prize: Verstappen
- Ludo van Denderen
Toto Wolff is a smart guy. While his great rival Christian Horner at Red Bull Racing is under huge fire, the Mercedes team boss manages to find a way into the discussion time and time again. It's clear: Max Verstappen is most welcome as Lewis Hamilton's successor, while the door is also wide open for advisor Helmut Marko and designer Adrian Newey. Wolff's open involvement in the Red Bull saga is no coincidence or a slip of the tongue.
Helmut Marko has always been the master of it: the 80-year-old has made quirky remarks about other teams for years, usually with a wink but aimed (and sometimes they were sharp remarks). Mercedes were often the 'victims' in the Austrian's comments. Now, the roles have been reversed. With all the internal turmoil within Red Bull Racing, Marko keeps quiet - in public - about the situation, but now Wolff is making jabs.
Wolff is trying to destabilise Red Bull further
Why? Quite simply, it is so Mercedes benefit from it. The shrewd team boss is well aware that the longer the saga at Red Bull continues, the less the focus will be on the team's sporting performance. A lot of turmoil at the competition could allow Mercedes to creep closer to Red Bull Racing in terms of speed. After all, when everyone is focused on the internal battle, when will there be the time or motivation to improve anything about the RB20?
Just assume Wolff knows exactly what is going on inside Red Bull. If the media have their lines of communication, then surely so does Wolff. Wolff knows exactly where to poke to keep the attention on the goings-on at Red Bull. The Austrian team boss made some remarkable statements at OE24 on Wednesday to sprinkle some extra salt in the ever-growing wounds. He spoke of "exciting scenarios" in case Horner stays on at Red Bull Racing. And, he said, his Mercedes team will obviously continue to work on improving the car. "This is how Mercedes can become a real alternative to Max," Wolff spoke.
Marko and Newey also welcome to Mercedes
The Verstappen camp will watch it all with a smile. They continue to see a departure at Red Bull Racing as an option. Wolff now publicly positions himself as the party where Verstappen will be received with open arms. Moreover, in Saudi Arabia last weekend, Wolff already said Helmut Marko is very welcome to join Verstappen at Mercedes. The door has now been opened through the Austrian medium for Newey. Wolff could've said: 'No, we don't need Newey because our people are fine'. Instead, he said: "In this crazy rollercoaster, everything is possible, I don't want to exclude anything at all."
The result of Wolff's statements? Everyone is again talking about the problems within Red Bull. The side benefit for Wolff is that if things go wrong with his rivals at any point, he will be in pole position to take over the most important people, including Max Verstappen. Wolff has not yet said his last words about Red Bull.