Max Verstappen Mercedes Talks Confirmed | F1 Update

Max Verstappen Mercedes Talks Confirmed | F1 Update

mercedes boss Toto Wolf confirms talks with Max Vstappen as Lando Norris tops the time sheets on the opening day of the Austrian Grand Prix despite missing first practice from Racing News 365 my name is Nick Golding and I’m delighted to be joined as always by lead editor Ian Parks first things first once again Ian you have got the beautiful noise in the background of the Porsches it does sound spectacular at the Red Bull ring and we’ve got to start of course with a talking point off the circuit today and that came in the team principles press conference because Toto Wolf following a question from yourself effectively confirmed that talks with Max are happening
yeah hi everyone and welcome to a very sunny Red Bull Ring for anybody that watched yesterday’s update you’d know it was very dark and overcast and we’d had that major threat that never happened with regards to the weather of storms hail with high winds yes we had a bit of hail we had a bit of rain but never really happened so today we had beautiful sunny climbs over the Red Bull Ring two practice sessions dominated by sunshine and blue skies and we have the threat will we is it a threat of Max Stapen potentially joining Mercedes for next season well George Russell on Thursday afternoon media day of course had said in a clip published by Sky Sports that his contract talks were being held up by conversations between Toto Wool and Maxappen that was quite enlightening so who should we have on today’s FIA team principles press conference as you pointed out Nick none other than Toto Wolf and yes Toto faced many questions on the topic of Max Rappen these conversations and the possibility of joining Mercedes next season and as you’ve rightly pointed out to one of my questions he refused to deny quite quite clearly that any talks had taken place pretty much stating in fact that yes they were discussing things now this is quite intriguing because as you remember last year let’s go back pretty much to the same point 12 months ago to Wolf Mercedes and Maxappen were all being linked in the same breath quite heavily on that occasion it was seen pretty much as total trying to destabilize Max to a certain extent bearing in mind everything that had gone on between Maxappen and Red Bull last year and all the Ferrari that was kicking off behind the scenes with of course Christian her we had Adrien Newi leaving we had Jonathan Wheatley leaving of course and so this was Toto seeming to throw a hand grenade into the mix on that occasion and just as I say get things stirring a little bit more inside that Red Bull pot this time around this is a little bit more different this is actually Toto quite clearly making a play for Max Stappen now the key thing about these Maxlin talks are the fact that of course we know that Max has got this clause in his contract and he has to be outside of the top three in the driver’s standings at a certain point over this summer period that would allow him to potentially leave Red Bull as it stands Max is currently in that top three so any move could not take place so what might happen this weekend at the Red Bull Ring could Max Stapen get that one penalty point needed on his driver’s license that could potentially see him out of the British Grand Prix and does that then open the door for would you believe George Russell taking that third spot in the driver standings Max dropping down to fourth and then we’ve got our scenario whereby Max could potentially leave Red Bull it’s all one big melting pot at the moment Nick and Toto Walsh not downplaying it in any way shape or form but you do feel that given this contract pause in Makan’s deal with Red Bull that that has to be the scenario that has got to come into play before those discussions could move on any kind of pace and Mercedes being any kind of position to offer Max a deal absolutely of course those watching this F1 be sure to let us know in the comments below do you think Max should join Mercedes for 2026 be very interesting to get your thoughts on the topic ian let’s talk about the stuff that happened on the circuit and of course we’ve got to start with the three McLaren boys and of course Lando Norris sat out first practice due to McLaren running its junior driver Alex Dunn who’s also currently the F2 championship leader he did a phenomenal job finishing FP1 in fourth before in FP2 it was a McLaren 12 with Lando on top
yeah let’s talk about Alex first because ordinarily when a rookie driver gets an FP1 session like this not much is expected of him expected to go through the drills the development uh but Alex as you say 19-year-old Irishman only the he’s actually becomes the first Irishman to drive an F1 car over a Grand Prix weekend since Ralph Furman did it for Jordan 22 years ago so quite some achievement waving the flag there for Ireland and our good Irish colleague Fergle Walsh whose name you might have seen on many of our content over the past two years or so but yes let’s get back to Alex Dunn great performance built beautifully into the session yes initially he was given the job of developing the McLaren for this weekend we saw arrow rates on the front of his car and we know that McLaren has been looking at that particular area relating to the front suspension the front wing in particular once he those were unbolted from the knuckle 39 he then went through a period of acclimatization with a bit of hard tire running and then once McLaren felt that he was up to speed they then allowed him a soft tire run and it was not just any ordinary rookie driver doing an a soft tire run this was Alex Dunn putting that car in fourth position on the time sheet just behind his teammate for that session Oscri are not far behind the leader of the session George Russell in his Mercedes great job done by Alex Dunn but yes once Lando Norris took over and it was quite a surprise that Lando did decide to not do this session because this is quite a tricky circuit it’s it’s short it’s the shortest lap on the calendar in terms of overall distance it’s one of the shortest in terms of lap time and so you’ve got to get on top really really quickly nevertheless once Lando was in that car he nailed it from beginning to end was quickest on the medium tire was the quickest on the soft tire and very strong as well on race pace overall this is a track that Lando loves he said it in his media session on Thursday he finds this the most comfortable track on the calendar for him to drive so that gives you an indication as to just why he gave up that F1 FP1 session for Alex Dunn but overall Alex Lando and Norris doing the job on the day for McLaren as a team they are already looking like the team to beat going into Saturday qualifying but anything could happen it is Friday practice at the end of the day i’m fully expecting Max Stapen a fivetime pole sitter a five-time Grand Prix winner here at this circuit to be absolutely in that mix i’m fully expecting George Russell and Mercedes to be in that mix as well and that’s a good point that you mentioned about Max because actually over one lap pace at least in FP2 McLaren do seem to have a bit of an edge as has been the case all season however when it came to the long runs Max was right there with both Lando and Oscar and I guess the big question though is how are these hotter temperatures over Saturday and Sunday going to impact the pecking order
yeah because today has been quite unusual Nick because the weather yesterday was steamingly hot we’d had a super hot Wednesday stiflingly hot on Wednesday night going into Thursday morning and it remained hot for the majority of the day until as I say these storm warnings came about and yes we had the cloud cover come across and from last night where it rained overnight quite heavily we did have a storm in certain parts around the styan hills that surround this circuit and it meant that the temperatures for today have been relatively subdued compared to Thursday and Wednesday what we’re expecting going into the weekend is those temperatures to rise again so they could very significantly play a part but at this stage as I say we’ve got McLaren’s you got Max in his Red Bull we got George in his Mercedes looking comfortable looking strong and it is between those top four I feel anyway going into qualifying on Saturday but as you pointed out Max looking very good on race pace so I’m fully expecting him to be challenging the McLaren duo in the Grand Prix on Sunday just to very quickly run through the top 10 from the opening day in Austria it was Lando Norris fastest on a 1 minute 4.580 pashri in second vstappen third lance Stroll in a fabulous fourth for Aston Martin awesome job done by him charlair was in fifth george Russell sixth yuki Cenoda in a good seventh his best Friday probably since getting into that Red Bull has got to be said gabrielle Bortalto in an equally awesome eighth stake fernando Alonzo in ninth and Lewis Hamilton in 10th on a 1 minute 5.511 just over 9/10 of a second off Norris and let’s send this talk on Ferrari because of course major upgrades for this weekend at the Red Bull Ring and it’s got to be said particularly in Louiswis’s case it is just not clicked on Friday it’s not clicked to round for Ferrari in its entirety they had three drivers on track today dino Begovic taking over from Shawlair in FP1 charlair again saying that this is a track around which he feels really comfortable so he was happy to give up this session nevertheless in FP1 Lewis complained of a lack of pace uh Dino Begovic had to have the floor off his car for a period of time lewis was in the garage for a period of time then it came to FP2 shlair into T5 having a major off moment trundling across the gravel trundling across the grass he had to head back to the garage after that little incident very soon after we had uh Lewis Hamilton on the racing line into T4 slowly going into T4 as well and Kimmy Antonelli steamrolling up behind him having to go off track and go around Lewis just to simply to make T4 lewis had to apologize hands up in the air in the end just a warning from the stewards because that was investigated post session but overall just a real miserable Friday for Ferrari and they more than any other team looking at it have got so much work to do and the surprise as well Nick is that there’s a brand new flaw on this car for those Ferraris ferrari came into this weekend really hoping that was going to trigger something some performance not just on one lap pace but on race pace as well so far we’ve just not seen it this could be another miserable weekend Ferrari if the this Friday is anything to go by got to hope that they can extract something overnight going into the weekend because as I say they’ve got so much work to do looking at their performance overall across those two sessions well time will tell I guess for Ferrari i’ve got to say by the way there was a brilliant comment on Thursday’s F1 update asking for only time will tell merchandise i agree it needs to happen so to our CEOs watching this let’s make this happen please can we get some Only Time Will happen
do we get caps do we get caps do we get t-shirt
that’ be brilliant let’s do it you can wear it in the paddock
mate let’s do it as you said I’m going to Let’s get it done and if you do I will wear a cap with that on or a t-shirt
well only time will tell if there will be merchandise coming get it in again anyways for those who are watching this set for an update let us know in the comments below not only about Max and whether he should go to Mercedes or not but also who you think will claim pole position on Saturday please do in addition to that like this video subscribe to the channel and join Ian and I after qualifying on Saturday see you later
as always thanks for listening thanks for watching take half of them

After months of speculation, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff finally confirmed that talks are taking place with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. George Russell revealed the talks on media day ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, before Wolff confirmed the conversations with the four-time world champion during the team principals’ press conference. On the circuit, it was Lando Norris on top at the Red Bull Ring, leading a McLaren one-two on a day where its junior driver and Formula 2 title leader Alex Dunne grabbed the headlines. Join RacingNews365’s Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they discuss the opening day of Austrian GP action! Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel.

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TIMECODES:
00:00 Max Verstappen Mercedes talks confirmed
04:28 Impressive FP1 showing by McLaren junior
07:28 Race pace from Max Verstappen looking promising
10:04 Ferrari upgrades not working, should they be worried?