Keen-eyed fans have potentially discovered something fascinating: Public data from flight and yacht trackers seem to show Max Verstappen and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff meeting up in Sardinia.
Verstappen’s future has been the subject of much hypothesis, with rumours suggesting he could join Mercedes in the future.
Flight, yacht data implies a Max Verstappen / Toto Wolff meeting
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has made no secret of the fact that he’d like to sign reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen for the future — and it appears that the two are meeting.
An automated account called @VerstappenJet on social media platform X shares updates any time Max Verstappen’s personal plane takes off or lands. Relying on publicly available data, the account shared earlier today that Verstappen’s jet had taken off from Nice and landed in Sardinia shortly after.
Further, tracking information from yachts owned by both Max Verstappen and Toto Wolff shows the two vessels have been spotted off the coast of Sardinia — this coincides with F1 pundit Ralf Schumacher saying that a meeting between the two men is taking place this week.
“I think it’s pretty clear what Max wants,” Schumacher told Formel1.de in an interview released on 10 July.
“GT3 is something he’s passionate about. Mercedes is also launching a new car in that category soon, so… Right now, it doesn’t feel like the odds are great for him staying.”
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Schumacher continued, “I think on Sunday, it hit him that even he can’t save this anymore – and that really affected him. After the race, it was obvious to me. And once you feel like something is beyond saving, it’s hard to come back from that.
“It’s no coincidence either that this week, two yachts are cruising off Sardinia – one belongs to Toto Wolff, the other to Max Verstappen. And from what I hear, there’s a good chance they might have had a coffee together.
“But what defines Max is that he won’t take this decision lightly. He knows exactly who he owes his career to – besides himself and his father, of course – and that’s ultimately Red Bull, the team that brought him to where he is today.”
Verstappen has been a member of the Red Bull Racing family since he was a teenager; it’s the programme that brought him into the Formula 1 ranks and that has crafted a Championship-winning car.
But beginning midway through 2024, the team seemed to take a turn; while Verstappen was able to snatch another World Championship courtesy of a dominant start to the season, McLaren and Ferrari both superseded the team in the constructors’ standings.
The issue? Both McLaren and Ferrari had introduced strong upgrade packages throughout the season that allowed both teams to compete for more wins. Red Bull, by contrast, struggled to introduce upgrade packages that brought a similar boost in performance.
Coming into 2025, it was clear that Red Bull was no longer the favourite; while Verstappen has taken victories and outperformed the car, his teammates have floundered with the challenging RB21 — and rumours have begun to suggest that the Dutch driver may be looking to move elsewhere to try his hand.
Verstappen is currently contracted with Red Bull through the close of 2028, though it is understood that his contract features performance-related clauses that could enable him to leave the team sooner.
With the line-ups at Ferrari and McLaren settled, Verstappen’s primary option for a team swap would come with Mercedes. Despite a strong start to 2025, George Russell has yet to ink a contract extension with the team, further fueling rumours that a swap is about to happen.
Pair that with Toto Wolff’s public admission that Mercedes is interested in signing Verstappen and that conversations have been ongoing, and you have a perfect storm.
For the moment, Wolff and Verstappen are only said to be meeting for a coffee — but that meeting is sure to result in some serious speculation about major changes to the F1 2026 line-up.
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