Wolff: We're sitting back, flirtation with Verstappen doesn't work

This comes after a long and winding flirtation, fit for another episode of the Barbie movie, with Verstappen in the wake of Lewis Hamilton announcing his departure to Ferrari. It was always believed that George Russell was the heir apparent to the big shoes of the seven-time F1 World Champion.

Whether Russell will rise to the role of team leader remains to be seen, but he is their top candidate. They invested in the driver from youth, through the academy to the junior series, on to his F1 debut for Williams, and finally, a promotion to Mercedes.

The plan was for Russell to take over the team's leadership from Hamilton. That moment has come sooner than anyone expected, as Hamilton's departure to Ferrari for 2025 caught everyone by surprise.

Immediately, Wolff had several options. He could have done a direct swap with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who leaves Maranello to make way for Hamilton, which would have made quite a formidable drive pairing. But that didn't happen.

Instead, Wolff openly coveted Verstappen to the point that one has to imagine that Russell must have been thinking twice about his future with Mercedes and the role he had been groomed for, which seemed assured, well-plotted, and planned.

While this was going on, the second seat was filled by 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli, the youngest driver Mercedes has ever put in a Formula 1 car to race for them. The Italian is an 'experiment' that's part of Wolff's plan to take the team into the future.

The Verstappen romance is over and will no longer be an issue, according to Wolff, who told Autosport: “We're sitting back. I think I've expressed it before, and we have a similar view also from Max's side: you've got to put faith in your drivers or in your team.

"You need to give it the maximum support you can to make it a success. And only if things go really wrong will you consider other opportunities. For me, it's like flirting outside while you're making your relationship work. It doesn't work; I'm not flirting outside.

“Only if I want to have a change or consider a change, I would seek a conversation. And it is the same on his side. We're pretty aligned in our values on that, I think.”

Wolff is confident that Russell will rise to the role of team leader while facing a challenge from their young, unproven prodigy Antonelli: “George has a similar trajectory in terms of karting and junior formula, and George was the first Mercedes junior that joined us. He's still our Mercedes driver."

Notably, with Lewis and George, their average age is 32.5 years; when Kimi replaces Lewis, the average driver's age will plummet to 22!

As for managing the new driver pairing in 2025, Wolff ventured: “We don't make a big difference. Emotionally, we give them the same support. Nothing changes. Every top driver in Formula 1 knows that he needs to compete against their teammate, whether he's young or old.

"George's teammate has been Lewis Hamilton, the greatest driver of all time, for three years. So he will be just fine competing against one of the youngest, who comes in with great expectations," predicted Wolff.