Toto Wolff, Ola Kallenius, and Sir James Ratcliffe mean business: a meeting with the Verstappen clan is on the agenda.
In recent weeks, what was seen at Red Bull was merely an apparent truce, which seemed to reveal its weakness entirely with yesterday’s news of the decision – effectively not strongly denied – by Adrian Newey to leave the team.
A departure that could trigger a sensational domino effect, in which several key figures of the world champion team are reportedly negotiating their own exits from the team, disgusted by the handling of the Horner situation.
According to F1-Insider, the Verstappen clan will meet with Mercedes between the Miami race and the subsequent one in Imola.
This is a significant piece of news, as the meeting is expected to be attended by the top brass of the Silver Arrows in F1, namely Ola Kallenius – chairman of the Mercedes board -, Toto Wolff, and Sir James Ratcliffe of Ineos, each owning 33% of the team.
At the table will sit, in addition to Max Verstappen, also his manager Raymond Vermeulen and father Jos.
As is known, Verstappen has an exit clause from the Red Bull contract (which will expire in 2028) tied to the presence of Helmut Marko in the team, who is willing to step aside to allow his protégé to part ways with Christian Horner.
The German publication also explained that Verstappen intends to ensure that Mercedes can field a more competitive car than what has been seen in this early part of the championship.
The Dutchman could therefore demand the arrival of some top-level technicians from Red Bull, a detail that would explain Mercedes’ pressure on Pierre Waché, the technical director of the Anglo-Austrians, which has been ongoing for some time.
However, the requests do not seem to intimidate the Kallenius-Wolff-Ratcliffe trio, ready to put on the negotiating table the staggering sum of 150 million per year between fixed part and bonuses, and a long-term contract that would make Verstappen a brand ambassador at the end of his career.
But not only that: Mercedes is truly willing to welcome – dramatically – even Helmut Marko into the team, just to convince the three-time world champion.
