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Toto Wolff says he had spoken to Max and Jos Verstappen about Max’s future with Mercedes, in his junior days, but “it wasn’t an option back in the day”.
In an interview with ESPN, Toto Wolff revealed he had spoken with Max Verstappen and his father Jos about a possible future with Mercedes, but it wasn’t the right fit at the time.
“I spoke to Jos and Huub Rothengatter [Jos Verstappen’s manager during his F1 career] when they came to my office in Brackley and that must have been when Max was in karting or the end of his karting days [in 2013] just before Formula 3 [in 2014],” the Austrian said.
“And then we spoke again when Max and Jos visited me in my house in Vienna. We spent a few hours discussing his future.
“Do I regret missing out on Max? Certainly. But it wasn’t an option back in the day.
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“We had two drivers that I was extremely happy with, in Nico and Lewis, and when Nico left [at the end of 2016], Valtteri [Bottas] was then the option and Max wasn’t even available.”
Wolff also questioned if Max and Lewis Hamilton could have coexisted at the time.
“Would Max and Lewis have functioned? Maybe not. And Lewis is a Mercedes guy since forever, so that hard question I never needed to ask myself for the organisation. Everything happens for a reason.
“But I had two drivers in the seats, no deal with a junior team, so it was clear that the option with Toro Rosso was what they needed to do. And they did well.”
Asked if he tried to approach Max, after the Dutch driver signed with Red Bull, Toto said:
“After that we always had friendly contact but never discussing driving.”
Ultimately, Toto said it was not clear in Max’s junior days that he would become a special driver in the future.
“Back in the day I think there wasn’t huge hype around Max, because Max and Van Amersfoort weren’t winning the championship that year. Esteban [Ocon] won in a more competitive car.
“So the insiders knew that Max probably was in an inferior package and in his first year, and the insiders knew there was a very good one coming, but it wasn’t clear that he was that good at that stage.
“You can only say when someone grows in Formula One and matures that he is a true world champion, an outstanding one.
“Before we had Lewis and then Michael Schumacher and before that [Ayrton] Senna. Who is the next one? Was it clear that Max would step into these shoes?
“It wasn’t clear back then,” Wolff concluded.
