Wolff reveals Alain Prost influence behind George Russell and Max Verstappen plan

The Max Verstappen to Mercedes rumours returned in F1 2025, threatening a huge twist in the F1 ‘silly season’, but alas, no move materialised.

For Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, “honesty” is his policy with Russell, which continued to stand during his exploration of Verstappen’s F1 status. Wolff revealed that his approach has been heavily influenced by a discussion with Alain Prost, who explained how McLaren management played he and Ayrton Senna off against the other.

Alain Prost influenced Wolff’s Max Verstappen and George Russell plan

It was Russell who sparked the Verstappen to Mercedes rumour mill back into action ahead of the summer break, claiming discussions between those two parties were influencing his path to a new Mercedes contract.

Verstappen finally silenced the rumours ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix by declaring his continued presence at Red Bull in 2026.

Wolff, in conversation with De Telegraaf, opened up on his approach to that situation with Verstappen and Russell, and a very important conversation which he held with four-time World Champion Prost, during his early days at Mercedes in 2013.

At McLaren, Prost and Senna were involved in one of the all-time classic teammate battles – war would perhaps be the more appropriate term – with championship glory on the line.

“What I find incredibly important within a team is transparency,” said Wolff.

“When I started at Mercedes, I spoke to Alain Prost for five minutes on the grid. I asked him what had gone wrong between him and Ayrton Senna at the time. He said, ‘Nothing, but the team management played us off against each other.’ I don’t want to make that mistake.

“And I had Niki Lauda as my friend and mentor.

“I have always been honest with George too. It is my job as team principal to explore the market and see how a driver like Max Verstappen, a four-time world champion, views the future.”

The relationship between Wolff and Verstappen’s camp became extremely strained following the volatile 2021 season. The title battle between Red Bull’s Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton spread throughout the teams, with Wolff and his opposite number, Christian Horner, also clashing regularly.

For Wolff and Verstappen, it is now water under the bridge. But, while the events of 2021 would no longer be a barrier to Verstappen joining Mercedes, Wolff added loyalty as another important principle for him.

Asked if he still expects to work with Verstappen in F1 some day, Wolff replied: “Well, I have known both Jos and Max for a long time. In 2021, the battle between us got out of hand. We talked it out later. Since then, we have had a very good relationship again.

“Where will it lead? I am also a very loyal person. George has been driving here for years and is doing a great job, and we also have Kimi [Antonelli], who is a huge talent. We need to give him time to develop further.

“At the same time, Max also has his reasons for staying at Red Bull. He’s not just going to walk away.”

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While it was expected that Verstappen’s expression of commitment to Red Bull would quickly trigger a new Mercedes contract for Russell, the Brit is yet to sign on the dotted line.

However, Russell says that signature is moving closer.

“Naturally, we wanted to take the summer off to sort of relax and reset, but [we are] positively moving in the right direction,” Russell responded to a question from PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher over his future.

“But I think as there is no time pressure from the team’s side and no time pressure from our side, we’re just ensuring it’s done properly.

“Of course, you are juggling priorities. It’s not like the world stops to sort a contract. We’ve got to worry about race weekends, we’re focusing on future development, already looking ahead to next year, sponsorship days, things sometimes do take longer than you would anticipate. But as I said, they’re positively going in the right direction.”

He added: “Toto and the team were very willing to work through the summer break to come to a resolution, but I wanted just to take that time because those two weeks are pretty precious for all of us.

“I think we’re getting closer to being on the same page with a few things, and hopefully, realistically, we’re talking maybe [a] number of weeks before anything really happens, but there’s no major rush, and I don’t want to really put a timeline on it.

“When it will happen, it will happen. If that’s next week, a month, two months, three months, it will be what it will be.”

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