Toto Wolff has made it no secret that he wants Max Verstappen to join Mercedes in 2025. But reportedly, Mercedes will have to meet certain conditions for the world champion to even consider a switch. Once Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari announced their upcoming partnership, it was clear that Wolff had a massive job at his hand to find a replacement for the 7-time champion.

Although the Austrian had said that he wanted to promote his junior driver and prodigy, Kimi Antonelli in F1 as soon as possible, he would want to loan him to a customer team like Williams first, as he did with George Russell. So he still needed a driver for the short term, and he had no shortage of candidates willing to jump into that Mercedes seat.

But as soon as there were talks about an exit clause in Max Verstappen’s contract during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend, Wolff got actively involved in pursuing the Dutchman. But why would a driver who is winning consecutive championships with Red Bull want to join a team that is clearly struggling?

The answer is the supposed internal power struggle at Red Bull that came to light once the Christian Horner investigation saga began early in February and caused a rift between Verstappen’s father, Jos, and Horner. According to a recent report from F1-insider.com, Toto Wolff, along with other key members of Mercedes, is set to have a meeting with the Verstappen camp, including his father and manager for possible contract negotiations.

Now it’s clear that Mercedes has no problem in offering a huge salary to Max Verstappen, as the report suggested that the Dutchman could earn anywhere close to 150 million euros per year. However, Verstappen needs more than just money to be convinced to leave a championship-winning team.

According to F1 Insider’s report, the world champion needs to see how serious Mercedes are and how they plan to improve their car in 2025 and beyond. It also mentioned that Max Verstappen would want Mercedes to take over some of the important technical staff from Red Bull along with him if he were to consider a move next season or even in 2026.

Whether Mercedes will be able to meet those requirements is to be seen. However, they are prepared to go above and beyond in their pursuit of the world champion.

Mercedes is willing to offer an ambassadorial role to Max Verstappen

One of if not the biggest reasons for Hamilton to leave the Brackley squad was that he was declined an ambassadorial role in the team by Mercedes’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. However, the report suggests that this is not the case with Verstappen.

Along with Toto Wolff, it is reported that Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius and Sir James Ratcliffe (CEO of Ineos) will also be present in the meeting. And they are willing to give Verstappen a lucrative long-term contract that will also include an ambassadorial role in the team after he decides to hang his helmet. Another encouraging sign for Verstappen is that Toto Wolff has already shown his willingness to welcome Helmut Marko into the team, who is an important mentor for the Dutch driver.

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