Villeneuve: 'Wolff doesn't really want Verstappen, wants to thwart Red Bull'
General
Max Verstappen has recently become a candidate to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Toto Wolff repeated those words once again last week. But Jacques Villeneuve doubts Wolff and Mercedes' intentions. Do they really want to bring Verstappen in, or is it just to poke fun at Red Bull Racing?
Toto Wolff
"I can’t imagine Toto Wolff wanting Max," Villeneuve said. "The only way he would entertain the idea would just be to annoy Red Bull. I can’t see him at Mercedes because they lost the championship to Red Bull and Max. It would definitely not be because he really wanted Max. It would be more to do with wanting to get at Red Bull."
Wolff himself claims otherwise. He sees Verstappen as the best driver on the grid at the moment, and he is only too happy to add him to his line-up. Moreover, the 52-year-old Austrian made excuses last weekend in Australia for why tempers have run so high in recent years. In doing so, Wolff opened the door wide for Verstappen.
Villeneuve continued his story at OLBG: "There are a lot of personal vendettas in there right now both inside and outside of Red Bull. The whole thing is a mess. Would the team be as good without Horner? That is a difficult one. Would the team win without Verstappen? Probably. Max is winning because he has an amazing car and Red Bull is winning because they have an amazing driver. But he is not the only amazing driver that exists. Put Alonso in that car and he would be winning as well."
What can Verstappen do elsewhere?
Verstappen risks leaving Red Bull Racing if certain key figures were to leave the team. How likely the Dutchman's exit is cannot be said. In any case, it is not completely out of the question. Could Verstappen be able to perform the same with another team in Formula 1 as he has been doing for some time now with his Austrian employer?
"I am sure Max believes he could win at Mercedes and at Ferrari as well, that he would make the difference. He has to believe like that. And he might be able to make that much of a difference. But that is something we won’t know until he makes that move. Right now, he is beating Perez and that makes him look amazing. But we don’t know how good Perez really is. We just know he is not as good as Verstappen," Villeneuve concluded.