Lewis Hamilton’s British GP Win Could Lure Max Verstappen to Move to Silver Arrows, Explains Marc Priestley

It’s no secret that Toto Wolff has been chasing after Max Verstappen to get him to affix Mercedes because the alternative for Lewis Hamilton. Up till now, it appeared extremely unlikely that Verstappen would take into account such a transfer contemplating the poor efficiency of the Silver Arrows. Nonetheless, F1 pundit Marc Priestley believes that the Dutchman might now take into consideration shifting away from Pink Bull, particularly after Hamilton’s win at Silverstone.

Mercedes was unable to capitalize on the present ground-effect laws for the reason that begin of 2022 and that led to the staff struggling for a few seasons. Nonetheless, the current collection of upgrades they launched to the W15 since Monaco and Canada has modified the sport utterly.

The Brackley outfit are again on the entrance of the grid with two consecutive wins within the final two races. And that’s the reason why Priestley believes Verstappen might take into consideration a swap subsequent season.

In his breakdown of the 2024 British Grand Prix, Priestley defined the interior turmoil at Pink Bull across the allegations towards Christian Horner has affected the Verstappen camp rather a lot. Whereas the three-time champion will not be exhibiting it in public, his father Jos Verstappen has clearly been at loggerheads with Horner for the reason that Bahrain GP.

Thus, Verstappen leaving Pink Bull at his father’s behest for a greater staff surroundings at Mercedes was at all times doable, supplied their efficiency improved.

Priestley additional added, “However now, after all, we’ve bought a Mercedes that’s joined the get together on the entrance… There is no such thing as a doubt that Mercedes now has a automobile able to preventing on the entrance of most Grands Prix, that’s all that Max actually desires right here, isn’t it? He might probably go away that staff and transfer to Mercedes for subsequent season”.

The Dutchman making this swap could possibly be a seismic shock to the driving force market and Pink Bull can be in disarray. Verstappen is the one man carrying their 2024 marketing campaign at present because the RB20 is dealing with quite a lot of competitors from McLaren and now Mercedes. Thus, the vacuum that Verstappen leaves by leaping ship to Mercedes, could possibly be too massive to fill.

Verstappen to Mercedes might actually assist Carlos Sainz

One other driver who has but to determine on his Components 1 future is Carlos Sainz. There are quite a lot of groups which have been chasing the Spaniard, however he has chosen to not rush into a call. Priestley thinks that it might work out very properly for him if Verstappen selected to change to Mercedes.

“If he [Max Verstappen] have been to depart on the finish of 2024, it after all makes much more sense as to why Carlos Sainz might need been delaying his personal resolution about the place to drive subsequent season too,” Priestley remarked.

The previous McLaren man highlighted that Sainz has examined many potential groups’ persistence by not committing to them about his future and delaying his resolution. However, he talked about how the 29-year-old might inadvertently assist himself by not dashing his resolution and the Pink Bull seat opens up once more, courtesy of Verstappen’s doable shock transfer.

Priestley added, “There is no such thing as a higher driver to take that seat and for Carlos [Sainz], there’s no higher automobile to have the ability to drive.”

One other main growth about Pink Bull is that Sergio Perez might get changed mid-season by Liam Lawson who’s scheduled to drive the RB20 on Thursday for a filming day.