Wolff jokes Mercedes already has Verstappen for the 'real hero races' via GT3 deal

Toto Wolff has acknowledged that Max Verstappen’s new Red Bull contract has effectively closed the door on an F1 move to Mercedes, but the team principal found a characteristically dry way to frame the situation at the Dutch Grand Prix media session in Zandvoort.

Speaking at Mercedes’ traditional roundtable with Dutch press — a forum that has produced some of the team’s most candid headlines in recent years — Wolff noted that his paths with Verstappen have, in a sense, already crossed. The two sides are partners in a joint GT3 programme, with Verstappen racing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO under the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing banner in major endurance events.

“Well, the paths have crossed already with the GT racing,” Wolff said. “I think when we jointly developed that programme a year and a half ago it seemed a long shot. It seemed to be a long shot because could Red Bull ever allow Max in a Mercedes GT3? But they were open-minded and we are thankful for that because the project has been a success.”

Wolff then delivered the punchline the Dutch press had come to expect from him at Zandvoort, joking that Mercedes therefore has Verstappen for what he considers the truly prestigious events — the endurance races on the Nordschleife, with the Nürburgring 24 Hours as the centrepiece.

“We have him for the real hero races,” Wolff quipped, contrasting the smooth run-off areas of modern F1 circuits with the unforgiving nature of the Nordschleife.

The comments mark a notable shift in tone from last year’s Zandvoort session, when Wolff spoke openly about ongoing talks with Verstappen over a potential switch to Mercedes and acknowledged the chances of a move were real. He now concedes those chances were greater twelve months ago than they have been in recent months, with Verstappen’s new Red Bull deal having become clear to him as early as the spring.

The GT3 collaboration between Red Bull and Mercedes — two brands that have spent years as fierce rivals at the front of the F1 grid — has been widely regarded as an unlikely but successful partnership, and Wolff’s comments suggest both sides remain comfortable with the arrangement regardless of what happens in the premier series.