Horner irritated by Wolff: 'Did you talk to Max about this? '

Toto Wolff has certainly not given up hope: The Austrian Mercedes team boss believes he still has a serious chance of contracting Max Verstappen for 2025 and beyond. That sounds illogical, given that Verstappen is currently in by far the fastest team at Red Bull. Yet Wolff argues that other factors are also at play, and here he seems to be referring to the new engine regulations.

Indeed, it is an open secret that Red Bull Racing is behind in the development of the Red Bull Powertrains, with which the team will launch in '26. So a switch to Mercedes might bring little for Verstappen in the short term - in 2025 - but all the more for the years after. Christian Horner was presented with what Wolff had said after the Chinese Grand Prix and initially reacted with surprise.

"Who, Toto has? When did he say that? Just Now?", said the Briton. Only to respond with: "Let's put it that way. Well, I'm going to think carefully what I say here. Look, I think, have you spoken to Max about this? Because if you speak to Max, and certainly, his…, and it's not about pieces of paper at the end of the day. We know that he has a contract at the end of 2028. It's about how he feels in the team and the relationship he has in the team and the way he's performing. And I don't think Toto's problems are resolved as drivers. I think he's probably got other elements that he needs to be focusing on rather than focusing on drivers that are unavailable.."

'Wolff wants to cause unrest within Red Bull

According to Horner, Verstappen has expressed his desire to stay at Red Bull on several occasions, only to bite his tongue about Wolff: "Well, I think, I don't know how many more times he needs to say it. So, he's said it numerous times. I mean, he's, look, I'm not going to get drawn into it. I think sometimes it's just designed to create noise. I think he's moved today ahead of the amount of races that Mercedes have won in the modern era. So, the team's in form. Why on earth would you want to leave this team? You know, Mercedes are the third team behind their customers at the moment. So, I would think his time would be better spent perhaps focusing on the team rather than the driver market."