Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes he handled the 2026 Formula 1 driver market “in the most straightforward and fair way”.

That’s despite Wolff wooing four-time world champion Max Verstappen until it emerged that the Red Bull driver would be unable to activate a performance clause to exit his Red Bull contract early; the speculation cast doubt on incumbents George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli ’s short-term future.

Mercedes eventually made an unchanged line-up official on Wednesday ahead of the 2026 season.

Wolff told Sky Sports F1 on Friday that he was going to learn from what he called a “mistake”, insisting “there wasn’t any on-purpose flirting” and claiming this was “just a coincidence”, while admitting the uncertainty over the driver line-up ended up being “dest

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