Toto Wolff may be the last word but for now he’s keeping out of Zak Brown and Christian Horner’s debate over the 2022 Mercedes line.
Brown recently upset Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko when he said Max Verstappen would replace Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the end of this season.
The McLaren boss told the Daily Mail: “I think you will see Max and George there in 2022. I think that is the obvious decision.
“George is coming out of his contract and Max has a contract from which he came. You have Max’s knowledge and youth, you have George’s youth. If I’m a Mercedes that’s deadly for the next five years. ”
Marko has asked Brown to stay out of talks he does not know about while Horner has called the McLaren chief’s comments “profiteering.”
He said: “Maybe Daniel and Lando are just as likely to run! We are at the first race, it is clear that we are well aware of the contracts with our drivers. It’s a little early to profit. ”
At the end of the day, neither Brown nor Horner will have much in Mercedes’ conversations with his drivers, or their potential substitutes.
So Wolff says he’s not going to be involved in their debate.
“I want to stay out of the debate that these two are having about who is going to drive the Mercedes,” he told the media in Bahrain.
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The head of Mercedes motorsport, however, has made it clear he will not wait until January next year to decide on his 2022 line.
This year Mercedes were the last team to confirm their full lineup, announcing Hamilton in early February after talks were delayed.
As a result of these negotiations a one-year contract resulted in Mercedes having two open sets for 2022 with Valtteri Bottas only having a contract for 2021.
“We don’t want to leave until January to test both drivers,” Wolff said.
“Valtteri was very consistent in the summer, this is when it should happen. Also, to give the driver peace of mind, or to be able to focus on the work.
“And of course for the next year there will be a lot of balls in the air and we will always try to do our best in the team at the same time and at the same time give full loyalty to our existing line of drivers. right now.
“We have no doubts about Valtteri or Lewis but it is clear that talks are going to take place – but not in January next year.”
Asked if he hoped Hamilton would stay, which Brown thinks will win this year’s number eight and say he let him go, Wolff replied: “I really hope so. .
“The trip we have been together has been a great success. He has been a Mercedes driver – a Mercedes child since his painful years. He never ran a single weekend in Formula 1 without a Mercedes power unit so it is a logical continuation of the story. ”
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