Wolff's praised about tactics around Verstappen: 'Creates constant turmoil'
With the imminent departure of Adrian Newey at Red Bull Racing, the dismantling of the Austrian success team seems to have begun. Max Verstappen is (for now) on boards at the squad, but it remains impossible to rule out the possibility that the Dutchman will seek refuge elsewhere at some point. Toto Wolff, the CEO and team principal of the Mercedes F1 team, is more than happy to see the Dutchman come, it is more than clear. The Austrian continues to bombard Verstappen with advances, no doubt to the irritation of Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner.
That Wolff has not (yet) put Verstappen out of his mind as a potential reinforcement for Mercedes are very understandable to Christijan Albers. After all, Wolff too sees that things are and will remain unsettled at Red Bull, and there may come a time when Verstappen says: 'I'm done with it, I'm leaving'. In that case, the Austrian is ready to lure Verstappen in.
'Super good stratetegy from Wolff'
So, the former F1 driver states in a De Telegraaf's podcast: "Toto sees an opening, to keep creating turmoil at the team. Any time he can stir it up, he just keeps doing it. And those two (Horner and Wolff, ed.), they don't really love each other either. There's not really a love affair either. If you start thinking about it, it's a super good strategy by Toto, because he is constantly trying to keep the pressure on and see how far he can go. As a team principal, you always have to keep pushing and be alert, and see what's best for your team."
Afraid that Wolff will end up without a top driver, Albers does not think that will be the case. Indeed, the current analyst believes that the longer Verstappen is an option for Mercedes, the better off the German team will be. "It gives him a better position of power in negotiations with other drivers," argues the former F1 driver, who also spent some time as team principal at Midland in Formula 1.
Wolf must be LHAoff with this hilarious turn of events. Oh Man! Suddenly he is supposed be the saviour of Max and his entourage, the same crowd who constantly hurled unwarranted attacks on him not so long ago.
What unwarranted attacks are you talking about? Wolff is basically hitting an opponent who is on the ground and you find that funny... Shows what kind of person you are. Did you ever hear someone from RB make fun of Wolff in the past 2 years whiteout any reason?
Lol. 'Max and his entourage' who are outright dominating F1, need 'saving' by a TP that's been struggling with his team for years? Nobody has to leave Red Bull. But if they want to, they can move to Mercedes for a massive pay raise. One that's in place because Toto so desperately needs and wants them. What are these 'unwarranted attacks' you're talking about? I probably missed them because I got distracted by all the sucking up from Toto towards Max.
What Wolf needs is a damn good CFD engineer like Newey, then he's back in the game. He's got Russell and Kimi waiting in the wings too. Max's entourage is probably heading to Haas, Williams or something like that. Hahaha...
It was just a bit of bunter. ? I once joked that Alonso, a 2x WDC then, would soon a backmarker. And guess what? It happened. He found himself screaming "GP2 engine" in a McLaren Honda after burning all bridges with top teams.
An interesting question is why Wolff needs them. MB was once a great team full of very smart people. Where are they now? What happened to the team since then? ?
Quite a number of good engineers were pouched by Horner in a mass exodus around 2021.
You never used to post at Planetf1.com as "Dolf Lundgren" in the years gone by by any chance?
Why bring up Horner when talking about engineers leaving MB when there's only 1 who went to RB and 2 to Williams? You didn't even mention Williams. You're hatred towards everything related to RB got you. And now you try to divert from the fact that couldn't prove your claim.
Saying they were pouched by Horner is not in itself apportioning blame to him. Such is the nature of work, people move around. You are missing the point, I'm not trying to argue with you on this aspect. You are trying hard to create an argument where there is no for one.
You suggested that they left for RB: "Quite a number of good engineers were pouched by Horner in a mass exodus around 2021" I then showed you that most didn't go to RB, which you not only denied, but also failed (and you still do) to prove that "quite a number" left for RB. Wolff can only blame himself. Not Horner nor Jos are responsible for the situation MB is in at the moment.
Remember how this conversation started? This is what you said: "MB was once a great team full of very smart people. Where are they now? What happened to the team since then? ?" All I did was to concur with you that a number of good engineers have left Merc, which talks to the slump in performance. That's all. Is that ok?
Engineers switch teams constantly, nothing new. Nothing indicates that ONLY RB poached engineers from MB. There's many (if not more) which went to other teams. Even the star driver had enough and went to Ferrari. There's no point in trying to suggest that RB is responsible for the exodus of great staff from MB. Wolff himself is responsible for what is going on at MB since over 2 years now.
There were others like Ben Hedgekinson and others too. I do not recall or know all their names. But if you missed it at the time, check formula1.com, autosport etc.
You made that statement, therefore it is up to you to give examples which you still fail to give btw. In this case, it is yet another proof of your bad faith.
There's were the leading heads, those directly responsible of the 2014-2020 success. Awaiting your list of names...
The mass exodus started way before 21. And they went to other teams too, not only to RB where they seem to be happy. Others stopped working in F1. To only name a few: Aldo Costs Andy Cowell James Vowles Mike Elliott Lewis Hamilton Only one of them went to RB.
Wolff offering Verstappen double what Ferrari is going to waste on Hamilton is brilliant. It's an insult to disloyal Lewis Hamilton, it's a thorn in Red Bull's side, and it will cost him nothing, since Verstappen isn't going anywhere while Red Bull-Honda is winning everything.
Oh Mr Albers again... Next! "With the imminent departure of Adrian Newey at Red Bull Racing" So rumours are reality now or what? ? What kind of journalism is this?
Mr albers with his bs till newey or rbr say anything its justxhear say .toto will do anything to get max and lollipop man show that with it ?? but max has alredy said he will complet his contract with rbr .why would a driver want to go to a team that cant even get a car to work
As far as I can tell, Albers has been a Mercedes driver in DTM. Maybe he's still on Wolff's paycheck, who knows..
There a coupel drivers still on wollf pay check bottas and i think ocon still is as well with it
Same in my local newspaper this morning: Newey will join Ferrari and VER is signing with MB for 2025 and Horner is getting kicked out of RB for 2025. They even managed to say that Wolff is AM's owner ? Then they wonder why they have lost so much credibility.
Today, I think that is plausible except the AM owner bit. A week ago I'd had never thought so.
