With the announcement of Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari, it leaves a vacant seat at Mercedes AMG F1. George Russell is already locked in, but the hunt is on to be his teammate. There were rumors of Red Bull star driver Max Verstappen jumping ship and taking over that second seat. Since then, those talks have only grown stronger with each passing day. Now, team principal Toto Wolff has finally addressed these swirling speculations.

According to some reports, Jos Verstappen and Max’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, were heading to Germany. The objective was to seek a meeting with Wolff, Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe, and CEO Ola Kallenius on a rumored $160 million contract. Frankly, who better to succeed a driver of Hamilton’s caliber, than young blood like Max Verstappen? It is no secret that Toto Wolff expressed a desire to rope in Verstappen, in the past.

What did Toto Wolff have to say about the Max Verstappen links?

Speaking about the possibility of a meeting, Wolff firmly stated to Reuters, “No, that’s one of the rumors. People makeup meetings, makeup what’s happening with the drivers, but these things should be behind closed doors, and everything that’s been out there was not really the right thing.”

It is interesting to note that Wolff knew Jos Verstappen for a while. Due to this, it does make sense for him to make a move for the young Dutchman. Admittedly, Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, but there is a chance that it can be broken at any time. In today’s day and age, no contract between two parties is ever water-tight. Just ask McLaren’s IndyCar division, which terminated the contract of their injured recruit, David Malukas, owing to a clause.

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Will Verstappen leave Red Bull, and why?

On the face of it, it would be strange for the flying Dutchman to leave a team that brought him much success. As we speak, Max Verstappen is romping away to a fourth successive title with Red Bull. However, the situation within Red Bull has been pretty turbulent. Earlier this year, team principal Christian Horner was subjected to an internal investigation. This was with regard to his alleged behavior with a fellow employee of the opposite sex.

Although Horner has been cleared, the situation is threatening to fracture the team. Jos Verstappen believed that the matter risked the team being torn apart if Horner stayed. Another consequence of the controversy is the murky future of Red Bull technical guru Adrian Newey. Some might consider him the modern-day Colin Chapman, but rumors suggest that he could leave Red Bull. Now the question is, will Verstappen be tempted away from the Austrian outfit or will he remain loyal?