JULY 26, 2026

Antonelli has eased urgency to sign Verstappen says Wolff

Toto Wolff has given another strong indication that Max Verstappen will not join Mercedes in 2027, saying Kimi Antonelli's emergence means the team is no longer under immediate pressure to recruit the reigning benchmark.

The Mercedes boss had already confirmed in Hungary that Antonelli and George Russell are expected to remain together next season, while leaving open the possibility of eventually pairing Verstappen with the 19-year-old Italian.

You always have to try to have the best drivers in the car, Wolff told Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure.

Max remains the benchmark among drivers, but we may no longer be in the immediate urgency of recruiting a driver of his calibre.

Instead, Wolff says Mercedes must think long term about who will be leading the field in three, five, or even ten years.

That's why we set up the young driver program, with kids as young as 10 years old competing in karts, said the Austrian.

Antonelli, who leads the championship with six victories, increasingly appears to be that driver. The way he manages the ups and downs throughout a season, Wolff said when asked what impresses him most.

"He's in his own world when he's driving. And when he comes back to the pits, he's impenetrable. He analyses everything and moves forward.

He's the antithesis of the stereotype of the very emotional Italian driver. He's been moulded for F1.

Wolff said Antonelli's development towards Formula 1 began long before Mercedes placed him in a race seat.

For top-level drivers, natural talent accounts for 90 percent of performance. The remaining 10 percent is hard work, said the team boss.

With Kimi, the preparation for F1 began when he was eight years old. And he was already exceptional back then.

Sometimes he has setbacks and bad races, but he puts them aside to keep going. Nobody expected it, least of all his teammate.

However, Antonelli qualified only P4 in Hungary as Mercedes appeared to lose ground to its upgraded rivals - whilst George Russell suffered an engine failure.

All the top teams have brought improvements lately and we haven't brought any major improvements for a while, at least not in terms of downforce, Antonelli said.

It's something we expected. The other teams have brought a few upgrades and we're still waiting to bring ours. It's certainly been a difficult weekend so far.

(GMM)