By Joe Murphy
Toto Wolff’s first choice to replace Lewis Hamilton for the vacant Mercedes seat in 2025, has now been revealed. The Team Principal has said that his first choice would be no other than current World Champion; Max Verstappen.
With the Dutch championship leader recently affirming his affiliation with the reigning constructors champions, this move doesn’t appear to be on the cards. However, it does appear to be a dose of honesty from Mercedes that they would in fact choose the best option, if they could.
In reality, the options Mercedes will look to involve a shortlist of six drivers. Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Mick Schumacher, Alex Albon or Estaban Ocon. Which the outfit end up going for remains to be seen but each has their own intriguing back story and all would have a pout to prove with the team that dominated the hybrid era until 2022.
Whether Max Verstappen would enjoy such success at Mercedes as he is now, is also unknown. It is doubtful as that car seems a way off the pace of his current one. As of right now, it would make no sense for Verstappen to switch, even though Toto Wolff’s admiration is now public knowledge.
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