Not long after the Bahrain Grand Prix, the tension at the Red Bull garage started to affect Max Verstappen. After the entire Christian Horner fiasco, things started to go south for the team although he has denied all claims. After this incident, Horner has been allegedly fighting to take over the whole Red Bull team, making situations unfavorable for the drivers.

Looking at this, Max’s father, Jos Verstappen, expressed his dismay with the state of the team. Shortly after that, he was noticed talking to Toto Wolff at the Mercedes garage in Bahrain. This fueled rumors of the Red Bull driver looking to go to Mercedes. However, Max Verstappen has denied all the rumors, and after a lot of to and from, Toto Wolff has cleared the air, giving his latest verdict following the Monaco free practice. So what did the Mercedes boss say?

Toto Wolff opens up about Max Verstappen joining Mercedes, hints optimism for future

Jos Verstappen might be looking out for his son as the situation at Red Bull intensifies. Toto Wolff got involved as questions about Max Verstappen joining the team started to pop up. In the most recent update, he was again asked about the possibility of bringing in Verstappen to fill in the seat that Lewis Hamilton has left empty.

Toto Wolff responded to the interviewer saying, “I’ve been getting on with Jos (Verstappen) long before this spell, where we haven’t maybe joined interests, and it’s how we operate races. Cut the bulls**t out, and are you absolutely right, I think if we were able to demonstrate that our car is capable of driving for a podium or for wins, that would make our picture a little bit easier.”

Wolff, looking at the situation from Verstappen’s angle, said, “But I completely understand, and I said that in the media, that if I was Max, the car continues to perform like it is, then he has maybe an easier time to win a championship next year. “

The Mercedes boss sounded optimistic about bringing in Max Verstappen in the future, judging from the performance during the free practice sessions. He concluded his statement by saying, “Having said that, you can see now how the clown has come up, so yeah. I’m optimistic maybe one day our paths will cross and it will be very successful. Until then, we just have to work on our car and concentrate on our team’s performance.”

Nevertheless, only one man can certainly give an update about Max Verstappen’s future endeavors, and that’s Max himself. So what did he have to say about the whole scenario?

Last we heard from Verstappen himself on joining Mercedes

Being the level-headed professional he is known to be, Max Verstappen always resorts to a diplomatic answer. When it comes to the question of him joining Mercedes, his answer is more or less the same. The three-time F1 World Drivers’ Championship title winner claimed avoiding involvement in team affairs and only focusing on his performance.

According to the Guardian, Max Verstappen opened up about his silence on the rumors. The defending champion said, “The more I talk about it, the more people have to write.”

The defending champion took a dig at the media for making mountains out of molehills. He said, “You write it down, you make a story out of it and people will pick up little things and it becomes a massive sh*t storm. You know what I mean?” Verstappen also added his understanding that while reporting stories, the language barrier and mistranslation sometimes change the reality without the media wanting to do so either.

That being said, there is no official confimation from either parties involved. So far, Red Bull is seemingly providing Max Verstappen a car that is competitive to win races. Maybe that’s all he needs and is actually happy at Red Bull. Enough to stay around for the 2025 season too. So what do you think? Will Max Verstappen continue with Red Bull or move to Mercedes?