{"id":258209,"date":"2025-07-12T06:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/258209\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T06:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:17:11","slug":"max-verstappen-secret-meeting-with-toto-wolff-red-bull-racing-mercedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/258209\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen secret meeting with Toto Wolff, Red Bull Racing, Mercedes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a>‘s rumoured move to Mercedes<\/a> has gathered more strength after a wild theory of a secret meeting with Toto Wolff<\/a> was bolstered by internet sleuths.<\/p>\n

Former driver Ralf Schumacher earlier this week said two yachts owned separately by Verstappen and the Mercedes boss were both off the coast of Sardinia.<\/p>\n

On Friday night (AEST), the Flight Radar website tracked Verstappen’s private jet landing on the Italian island.<\/p>\n

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“It’s no coincidence either that this week, two yachts are cruising off Sardinia \u2013 one belongs to Toto Wolff, the other to Max Verstappen,” Schumacher told Formel1.de this week.<\/p>\n

“From what I hear, there’s a good chance they might have had a coffee together.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen has been linked with a move to Mercedes.\u00a0PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“But what defines Max is that he won’t take this decision lightly. He knows exactly who he owes his career to \u2013 besides himself and his father, of course \u2013 and that’s ultimately Red Bull, the team that brought him to where he is today.”<\/p>\n

Although contracted to 2028, growing discontent with the team and drivability of Red Bull’s 2025 challenger – as well as rumoured performance clauses that would allow him to leave early – have led to feverish speculation Verstappen would leave Red Bull. He’s been a part of the Red Bull program for virtually his entire racing career.<\/p>\n

Wolff is yet to resign either of his incumbents – George Russell and Kimi Antonelli – for 2026, although it’s believed Antonelli is virtually a certainty.<\/p>\n

It’s believed Schumacher made the comments before Christian Horner<\/a>‘s shock axing on Wednesday night (AEST)<\/a>. Although speculation is rife, it’s not yet clear if Horner’s dismissal has any direct connection to Verstappen’s contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One theory is the Verstappen camp gave Red Bull bosses a ‘me or him’ ultimatum. The other is he has already told the team he would be leaving – which would make the fourth departure of a key figure in two years – leading to Horner’s dismissal.<\/p>\n

Horner had been Red Bull team principal since it entered the sport in 2005. He has been replaced by Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies.<\/p>\n

\"Toto<\/p>\n

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.\u00a0NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Schumacher said Mercedes can offer him extra off-track opportunities that Red Bull cannot.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s pretty clear what Max wants. GT3 is something he’s passionate about – Mercedes is also launching a new car in that category soon,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“Right now, it doesn’t feel like the odds are great for him staying.<\/p>\n

“I think on Sunday, it hit him that even he can’t save this anymore \u2013 and that really affected him. After the race, it was obvious to me. And once you feel like something is beyond saving, it’s hard to come back from that.”<\/p>\n

The F1 season will continue with the Belgian Grand Prix at the famed Spa-Francorchamps circuit on July 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen‘s rumoured move to Mercedes has gathered more strength after a wild theory of a secret meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-258209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114838807911647041","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}