Toto Wolff chased four-time world champion Max Verstappen for a lengthy period of time, but the Dutchman will now stay at Red Bull for next season.
It has been a frustrating campaign for the reigning champion. Verstappen has won just two times in 2025 and stuttered to an underwhelming ninth-place finish last time out in Hungary.
As Verstappen is now staying, Mercedes team principal Wolff may now have to stick wth his current lineup of George Russell and talented rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli despite neither being signed up for 2026.
Windsor argued on the Cameron cc YouTube channel that Mercedes doesn’t need Verstappen and the German team should focus on building a more competitive car.
He said: “What does he need Max for? He’s got George Russell. It’s not Ferrari. His solution is not to have Max. His solution is to have a better car.”
Windsor feels that Russell has the talent to win world championships if given a competitive enough car: “He failed to get Adrian Newey, and now he needs to focus on having a better car for George Russell. There’s no good car in the world with which George Russell wouldn’t win a world championship. But, Max would be better in a couple of areas here or there, but that isn’t what it’s all about.”
Windsor feels Wolff ‘got his priorities completely wrong’
“It’s all about the car, and they’ve got George Russell, you give him a good car, he’s going to win a world championship for you, absolutely for sure, they don’t need Max for that. So again, a little bit like Ferrari, Toto got his priorities completely wrong. If indeed he was spending so much time trying to get Max.”
Mercedes has struggled with the ground effect regulations since they were introduced in 2022 and has won just five races since then, as Red Bull and now McLaren have set the pace.
They are locked in a battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship with Ferrari, but are 24 points behind the Italian’s at the summer break. This is despite Russell usurping Leclerc to third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Red Bull content pool
