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Wolff not giving up on plan to lure Verstappen to Mercedes

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he's not giving up on his masterplan to lure Max verstappen away from Red Bull next year.

Despite Verstappen having an existing long term contract in place, Wolff has made no secret of his hope of persuading the Dutch driver to move to Brackley to fill Lewis Hamilton's empty seat next season.

Hamilton announced at the start of the year that he was leaving for Ferrari, leaving a vacancy at Brackley that has been linked to a number of top drivers including Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

But it's Verstappen that Wolff says he really wants to see join the squad, hoping to exploit internal rifts at the squad that have already seen technical designer Adrian Newey decide to walk away at the end of the season.

Heading into the Monaco Grand Prix, Wolff was honest about what it would take to get Verstappen's signature on a contract.

Read also: Red Bull chief denounces Wolff’s public pursuit of Verstappen

Toto Wolff details updated Mercedes plan to lure Max Verstappen
https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1049029/1/toto-wolff-details-updated-mercedes-plan-lure-max-verstappen

“Max is not going to get in a car that is not competitive, and at the moment we are not competitive enough to lure a world champion,” Wolff told the PA News agency.

"It’s important to always have the quickest car, because that makes it a lot easier to think about what is right,” he said.

©Mercedes

“At the end of the day, we have a really strong group of people that maybe aren’t talked enough about in the press in general.

"They know what they have to do, they know what they are worth to the team, and they know how important they have been for the current success as well with the car. We just keep on working.

"We have to see how the next months go," he continued. “Look at McLaren. If we can put four tenths on the car [like they have done], we will be very competitive.

"I have to wait for the moment, there is no urgency," he continued, saying he saw no need to be rushed into a premature decision on signing Sainz, Ocon or anyone else right now. “I’m prepared to compromise in certain decisions."

Red Bull managing director Oliver Mintzlaff recently sharply criticised Toto Wolff’s public pursuit of Verstappen, saying that it implies a “lack of respect” by Mercedes towards their arch rivals.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.