TOTO WOLFF says he missed out on signing Max Verstappen as a youngster – because he could not offer the Dutchman a guaranteed seat at Mercedes. Verstappen is poised to win his 11th race in a row at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as he closes in on his third successive title. Wolff says that back then, Mercedes were happy with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and without having a second team on the grid, could not promise Verstappen a space. “We offered the support in F2 but, since Red Bull was able to offer them the AlphaTauri seat, or Toro Rosso back in the day, it got Max into the seat.”. Verstappen was offered a drive at Toro Rosso in 2015 while Rosberg unexpectedly quit racing the following year after winning the title. And Wolff says he can’t be certain if Verstappen would have picked Mercedes had he not already joined Red Bull.

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