Why Is FIA’s ‘Max Verstappen Rule’ Change a Redemption for Toto Wolff Led Mercedes?

“You can be here for like 20 more years, 30 more years, I can’t,” said Lewis Hamilton as the Netflix crew filmed his intense conversation with Toto Wolff. It is no secret that Hamilton is at the tail end of his career and Mercedes has failed to give him a race-winning car. This is why he decided to walk the Maranello corridors, leaving the German team to fend for themselves. It is next to impossible to replace a 7x champion who helped you win 8 championships. However, Wolff has now decided to correct his decade-old mistake and play the long game, and FIA’s rule change is just what he needed. Let us take a look at what that is all about.

Two key FIA rule changes that will help Toto Wolff correct his ‘mistake’

After Max Verstappen made a historic debut in 2015 by becoming the sport’s youngest driver at 17 years 166 days with Toro Rosso, the FIA changed its rules to ensure all super license holders had to be 18 before being allowed to compete at the highest level. This Verstappen rule has been changed now. Two tweaks to the FIA’s Formula 1 super license rules have allowed Kimi Antonelli (who is Mercedes’ priority number 1) to make an early official debut this year, even if it is only in a practice session. And perhaps for a full-fledged role next year. The FIA’s super license regulations presented two hurdles, though. They required a driver to be 18 years old and have a valid driving license–Antonelli is not 18 until August and cannot get a driving license in his native Italy before then either.

Now though, the FIA International Sporting Code has been updated, eradicating the need for a driving license and adding a provision that “at the sole discretion of the FIA, a driver judged to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition may be granted a super license at the age of 17 years old”. Antonelli has had commendable success so far (winning a pair of Formula 4 titles and a pair of Formula Regional titles). This means that he already has the required number of super license points to race in F1. So he might get that FIA discretion and Merćedes’ vision will manifest into reality.

Toto Wolff has admitted that he regrets the fact that Red Bull snatched Verstappen from under their nose and put him in an F1 seat. Interestingly, the rule that let Red Bull put Verstappen in F1 has been tweaked to allow Merćedes to put a ‘future Verstappen’ in the F1 seat. Talk about poetic justice!!

Who will replace Lewis Hamilton at Toto Wolff-led Mercedes?

Mercedes is the only top team that has an opening for a driver. While many thought Carlos Sainz would be their first choice for 2025, the latest developments point to the fact that he isn’t. It was understood that they were only willing to offer him a one-year contract and in the meantime, they could groom Kimi Antonelli for F1 by putting him in a Williams (the team’s past two recruitments have also come from their alleged B-team Williams only). However, FIA has now changed its rules to accommodate the prodigy, and it seems like everything is finally falling into place for the 8x champion team.

In a recent interview, Toto Wolff said, “Carlos is a great driver, so I think wherever he goes I think he would be a positive for any team. Honestly, I have no idea what Toto’s plans are, but for me, taking on a youngster, if it was my role, I would probably take on Kimi.” 

It seems as though the stars are aligning for them. Today, FIA changed their controversial Max Verstappen rule to accommodate another prodigy almost a decade later. It also happened to give Toto Wolff a chance to rectify his biggest career mistake, and no, it is not letting Hamilton go. It was not recruiting Verstappen at a tender age and losing him out to Red Bull.

Do you think Kimi Antonelli is the next big thing for F1? Just like what Max was almost a decade ago?