In the round-up: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes they can become a convincing option for Max Verstappen if he chooses to leave his Red Bull contract early.
In brief
Drivers moves “not the end of the story” – Wolff
Wolff said there was little chance Verstappen would consider moving to Mercedes when Red Bull’s car was “ultra dominant” but “that has changed over the last few weeks and months.”
“There’s three teams that were competing against each other,” he told Sky. “Hopefully we can demonstrate that we are part of this group now, too. So maybe there is a window.
“But 2026 is our main year where lots of things change and I think it could be quite attractive to drive with us. But whether it’s Max and whether he can get out of his contract, I don’t know.”
The Mercedes team principal said he is unaware whether Verstappen has a clause which could allow him to leave his Red Bull contract early, but said: “I think in any case, if it if a driver doesn’t want to stay somewhere, it’s very difficult to to keep a driver.
“But I’m not relying on that. I think most important is to look at ourselves. The quick car is always going to track the attention of a quick driver. So that’s our main priority. All of these driver movements here is not the end of the story.”
RB used sprint race as practice session
RB team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed they used last weekend’s sprint race to test their cars in different configurations after experiencing problems with the upgrades they introduced at the previous race in Spain.
“In the few days since Barcelona, everyone at the factory and at the track has been working hard on extending our understanding of the updates we introduced in Spain as part of our aggressive development programme,” he said. “That work continued here during the only free practice session, while the sprint [race] also provided us with valuable data.
“It is never ideal to do specifications comparison during a sprint weekend, but we felt that it was a necessary investment for our midterm future. The team and drivers did a very good job putting together the best configuration possible for Saturday and Sunday.”
Bearman eager for Silverstone run
Oliver Bearman will have his latest practice outing for Haas at Silverstone this weekend. “I’ve been counting down the days to it,” he admitted.
“It’s an amazing circuit and it will be a special feeling leaving the pit lane in front…
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