Mercedes staff boss Toto Wolff says he regrets not signing Max Verstappen when he had the prospect however doubts a driver mixture of Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton would have labored.

Earlier than Verstappen was introduced as a Pink Bull junior driver in August 2014, he and his father, Jos, had met with Wolff about the opportunity of becoming a member of Mercedes.

On the time, Mercedes’ F1 driver line-up included Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and the staff was embarking on a interval of unprecedented success within the sport.

In contrast to Pink Bull, nonetheless, Mercedes didn’t have a junior staff and due to this fact couldn’t supply the 16-year-old Verstappen a place in Formulation One for the 2015 season.

Verstappen signed with Pink Bull, raced for its junior staff Toro Rosso in 2015, and was promoted to the senior race staff on the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016.

Verstappen has gone on to win two titles with Pink Bull, together with his slender victory towards Hamilton within the 2021 championship.

Requested in a latest interview with ESPN if he regretted lacking out on Verstappen, Wolff mentioned he twice talked to the Verstappens earlier than they signed with Pink Bull.

“I spoke to Jos and Huub Rothengatter [Jos Verstappen’s manager during his F1 career] after they got here to my workplace in Brackley and that will need to have been when Max was in karting or the tip of his karting days [in 2013] simply earlier than Formulation 3 [in 2014].

“After which we spoke once more when Max and Jos visited me in my home in Vienna. We spent a couple of hours discussing his future.

“Do I remorse lacking out on Max? Actually. Nevertheless it wasn’t an possibility again within the day.

“We had two drivers that I used to be extraordinarily pleased with, in Nico and Lewis, and when Nico left [at the end of 2016], Valtteri [Bottas] was then the choice and Max wasn’t even out there.”

Wolff mentioned Hamilton’s presence at Mercedes additionally meant Verstappen was by no means a real goal for the staff.

“Would Max and Lewis have functioned? Possibly not.

“And Lewis is a Mercedes man since eternally, so that arduous query I by no means wanted to ask myself for the organisation. Every part occurs for a cause.

“However I had two drivers within the seats, no cope with a junior staff, so it was clear that the choice with Toro Rosso was what they wanted to do. And so they did nicely.”

Requested if he ever tried to method Verstappen once more after he signed for Pink Bull, Wolff added: “After that we all the time had pleasant contact however by no means discussing driving.”

Wolff additionally mentioned that it wasn’t solely clear how good Verstappen was when he was racing in Formulation 3, particularly after a sequence of retirements and blended outcomes early within the season left him third within the ultimate 2014 standings behind champion Esteban Ocon and vice-champion Tom Blomqvist.

“Again within the day I feel there wasn’t enormous hype round Max, as a result of Max and Van Amersfoort weren’t profitable the championship that yr,” Wolff mentioned. “Esteban gained in a extra aggressive automobile.

“So the insiders knew that Max in all probability was in an inferior package deal and in his first yr, and the insiders knew there was an excellent one coming, but it surely wasn’t clear that he was that good at that stage.

“You may solely say when somebody grows in Formulation One and matures that he’s a real world champion — an impressive one. Earlier than we had Lewis after which Michael Schumacher and earlier than that [Ayrton] Senna.

“Who’s the following one? Was it clear that Max would step into these sneakers? It wasn’t clear again then.”