Everything is possible - Silly Season in full swing (early edition) - Formula 1

With those three words "Everything is possible", Toto Wolff just added more fuel to the silly season fire, and of course the chatter about Verstappen heading to Mercedes next year has run amock.

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Supposedly Jos Verstappen and Toto have/had some discussions over last weekend, and there is a lot of hulabaloo about Jos working to push Horner out as Team Boss in order for Max to stay with Red Bull. Whether or not the latter is true, there is video out there of Toto and Jos having a bit of a discussion. When asked if there was interest in Max coming to Mercedes to fill Hamilton's seat next season, Toto responded 'everything is possible'. Now whether or not that was a true statement or just to fan the flames of paddock talk, it's gotten a lot of people thinking. How can Mercedes be interested in the enemy? How could they let HIM into the building let alone the former position of their best driver ever???

Here's the thing, and it's sort of painful to say because I am a Mercedes team fan, and for sure a Lewis Hamilton fan, IF (and it's a big IF) Verstappen frees himself from Red Bull and becomes available to the open market, he actually is the best choice for Mercedes or any other team for that matter. He is coming off his third straight Driver's Championship, is only 26 years old, and drives like a fighter pilot. All things that are big positives, and if you can manage him as a driver, a certainly strong road back to the championship.

What we tend to forget when any of us non Verstappen, and non Red Bull fans is, is that he really is a heck of a driver. Take the Red Bull logos off his suit and the car, and from a pure driving standpoint, other than Charles Leclerc, he has been the fastest on the track week in and week out for quite a while. Now what we don't forget, and is apparent every week, is that the Red Bull car (for now) continues to be the best designed, tuned, and setup car on the grid. Put another excellent driver in that car, like Lewis, Charles, Carlos, Lando, and you'll see the same type of results. Look at Sergio Perez for comparison. He isn't quite as good a driver as say Charles and Lewis, but that car is making it really easy for him to see podium after podium.

Will Max have a learning curve driving the Mercedes next season? For sure. Will he figure it out? Definitely. Will the car be competitive? That remains to be seen, and the rest of this season will give us a good idea once they start putting on the upgrade packages. If Mercedes can put together a strong competitive car, there is no reason they couldn't win another championship with Verstappen. Can they win with George or his future teammate? Of course, but it just might take a bit longer.

Verstappen represents the shorter path back to glory. Toto just has to decide whether it's the road he wants to take.