Toto Wolff has made it clear that 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen is his first choice to replace 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton, declaring tha﷽t it “needs to happen at a certain stage”.

Mercedes have a seat to fill in🤡 2025 after Hamilton decided to le♐ave the team for Ferrari.

A hostꦕ of names have been linked with the vacant seat, but Verstappen is Wo🗹lff’s number one target.

Even though Verstappen is contracted at Red Bull until the end of 20ꦑ28, the Dutchman could be tempted to jump ship before then.

The ongoing Christian ꦏHorner saga has put a strain on Red Bull internally with friction bet♊ween Jos Verstappen and the Red Bull boss apparent.

Similarly, Helmut Marko’s future is directlyﷺ linked to the reigning world championꦦ’s.

Speaking to Australia’s 🅠Fox Sports in Melbourne, Wolff addressed Mercedes’ driver line-up♕ situation for 2025.

“It’s the kind of rꩲelationship that needs to happen at a certain stage. But ๊we don’t know when,” Wolff said of Verstappen.

He was then asked if Verstappen is his number one choice, he replied: “Yes, I mean, you ꦐsee what his performance levels are. But I wouldn’t want to discount the other ones too.

“I think we’ve got to look at ourselves and [ask] what is it we💃 can do with this car. Then it becomes much easier, whoever drives the second car, it’s become much easiཧer for George [Russell] because he has the potential of being a World Champion and so much more.

“It’s the team’s problem to solve really, ratꦫher than looking for a silver bullet with an amazing driver.”

Wolff also labelled 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fernando Alonso and168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Carlos Sainz as other options, while Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi An🥂tonelli was hinted.

“No, [Russell’s] a bank. He’s having that s♓eat, he’s been part of oꦏur junior programme for a long time. The reason why is because he’s great, so it’s about the second seat,” he added.

“I think it depends also on what Max does. Then we have a young kid that is very promising and I don’t want to pu💟t more extra pressure on him, but it looks like he can be one of the great ones.

“But we also don’t want to drown him by jumping so quickly in an F1 car at 17. So there are a😼 few options that we play with him. Obviously, there’s Fernando [Alonso] who is very exciting, and Carlos [Sainz] is very good. So there are a few ones.  I’m gonna make the play like a bride – d🍒ifficult to get!”