Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes he can lure Max Verstappen from Red Bull by signing one of their key engineers, according to a report.
Wolff is in need of a replacement for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who will join Ferrari at the end of the year.
And according to funoanalisitecnica.com, the Austrian has now hatched a new plan to bring in title holder Verstappen.
There have been conflicting reports on the availability of the Dutchman, who has won the last three titles with Red Bull.
Christian Horner and co. apparently believe he remains committed to the team despite Mercedes’ interest.
Journalist Joe Saward suspects he could leave thanks to a likely ‘get-out’ clause in his contract, but not until the rules change in 2026.
Elsewhere, however, it’s claimed that Verstappen is ‘increasingly likely’ to make the sensational switch as early as next year.
The 26-year-old ‘appreciates’ the interest from Wolff and the Silver Arrows amid a fractious atmosphere at Red Bull.
Toto Wolff targets Pierre Wache and Max Verstappen
Wolff now thinks he has found the ‘right key to convince Verstappen’ to ditch Red Bull.
He has set his sights on chief engineer Pierre Wache, who’s the ‘right hand man’ of designer Adrian Newey.
Verstappen’s camp regard the 49-year-old as even more important than Newey, and so he may be inclined to follow him out the door.
This could potentially scupper Aston Martin’s plan to pull off a Newey and Verstappen double deal.
Lawrence Stroll hoped that capturing Newey could persuade the 56-time race winner to ‘settle down’ at Silverstone, but that gambit is unlikely to work.
Wache also a target for Ferrari
While the F1 driver market is expected to be particularly lively this year, in part because of Hamilton’s shock move and in part because more than half the grid are out of contract, there are also battles raging for behind-the-scenes figures.
Indeed, the suggestion in the winter was that Wache could follow Hamilton to Ferrari in a clear blow to Red Bull.
The Bulls built the most dominant car in F1 history last year, winning 21 of the 22 Grands Prix.
That came off the back of a comfortable triumph in 2022 as they beat Ferrari to the title by more than 200 points.
And even though they lost out to Carlos Sainz at the Australian Grand Prix after a mechanical failure on Verstappen’s car, they remain overwhelming favourites for this year’s top honours.
In that sense, it’s inevitable that rivals will seek to poach some of their top talent in a bid to close the gap.
The teams are also trying to place themselves in the best possible position for the upcoming regulation changes.
Speaking during pre-season testing, Wache called Mercedes’ car concept for the 2024 campaign ‘interesting’, but the Silver Arrows have picked up a measly 26 points from the first three races.
The Frenchman has spoken recently about how much he enjoys working with Verstappen and Sergio Perez, so it remains to be seen whether he has an interest in leaving.
The post Report: Toto Wolff wants to lure Max Verstappen to Mercedes by signing key 49-year-old engineer from Red Bull appeared first on F1 Oversteer.