‘Most important update in Mercedes history’ leaves ‘clear option’ for Max Verstappen, pundit claims

Max Verstappen would have no issue teaming up with George Russell at Mercedes, after all, the Dutchman believes he’s “unbeatable” against anyone.

Six months into Mercedes’ search for a new driver to replace Lewis Hamilton as Russell’s 2025 team-mate, speculation it could be Verstappen continues to rumble on.

Mercedes dubbed a ‘clear option’ for Max Verstappen for 2025

Although last month the 26-year-old issued an emphatic, although somewhat annoyed, “yes” when asked if he would be a Red Bull driver next season, that did little to silence the whispers.

Toto Wolff even went as far as to question Verstappen’s yes, telling OE24: “ I don’t think he clearly said yes . But I wasn’t there.”

But despite Verstappen’s answer and Christian Horner’s “that only reaffirms everything that we already know”, Mercedes’ back-to-back wins in Austria and Silverstone have pundits believing the tide could be turning.

And with the wave, it could bring Verstappen over to Mercedes.

Following on from Monaco when the team upgraded the W15, the new parts list including a flexi-wing, Mercedes strung together four races inside the top three, two of those being victories.

It has former F1 driver Christian Danner calling the Monaco upgrade the “most important update in Mercedes history” as it could be the catalyst for Verstappen’s move.

“You can analyse a car very well. What it can do and what it cannot do. That’s why I think Verstappen knows exactly what he would face if he wanted to take this step,” he added to motorsport-magazine .

“I think that is quite possible, and that’s because we’ve now reached a point where everyone is waiting a bit.

“You [Mercedes] leave that spot open and you’re still talking to Verstappen and I think that the way the season is developing at the moment, that’s a clear option for him.”

What’s next for the Mercedes and Red Bull line-ups?

👉 Explained: Everything we know about Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future

👉 Max Verstappen told to give ‘serious’ consideration to Mercedes with Red Bull ‘wave’ in question

Max Verstappen v George Russell at Mercedes in 2025?

A move to Mercedes would see Verstappen team up with long-time Mercedes driver Russell.

A Mercedes junior before he entered Formula 1, it was Mercedes who opened the door for him to race for Williams before stepping up to the Brackley squad in 2022.

Danner doesn’t believe that will bother Verstappen.

“He doesn’t just believe that he is better, in most cases he shows it too,” he said. “It is often self-confidence, the way you convince yourself that you are unbeatable. That is psychology.

“I think he is convinced that if they can do it, I can do it for a long time!”

As for Russell, the two-time Grand Prix winner has already made it clear he has no qualms partnering the triple World Champion, after all, he’s already had Lewis Hamilton as a team-mate.

“I’d be all for it,” Russell said in Miami. “Coming into Mercedes in 2022, off the back of Lewis’s legendary years and victories was a huge task for anybody, jumping into a team where he’s been for so long.

“I believe in myself, that you need to go up against the best in the same machinery and show what you’ve got.

“I feel that having Lewis as my teammate for the past three years, he’s been a hell of a team-mate, and we push each other every single week and so it is fair to say that I would welcome Max. I want to go against the best, so yeah, make it happen.”

Read next: How the Max Verstappen effect is beating McLaren’s brains and computers