Speaking in an interview with , Wolff revealed that he, Max and his father, Jos, me𓆉t on two occasions to discuss the possibility of joining Mercedes. 

Mercedes missed out when they faile𝔉d to match Red Bull’s offer of an imm🦋ediate F1 seat to Verstappen, who was announced as Red Bull junior in August 2014. 

Less than a year later, Verstappen went🌱 on to make his F1 debut with Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso at just 17 years of age. 

"I spoke to Jos and Huub Rothengatter [Jos Verstappen's manager during his F1 career] when they 🔯cam𝓡e to my office in Brackley and that must have been when Max was in karting or the end of his karting days [in 2013] just before Formula 3 [in 2014],” Wolff told ESPN. 

"And then we spoke again when Max and Jos visited me in my house in Vienna.🌠 We spent a few hours discussing his future.

"Doꦺ I r𝓡egret missing out on Max? Certainly. But it wasn't an option back in the day.

"We had two dr𒐪ivers th꧙at I was extremely happy with, in Nico and Lewis, and when Nico left [at the end of 2016], Valtteri [Bottas] was then the option and Max wasn't even available.”

Asked if he ever tried to approach Verstappen again following hಞis move to Red Bull, Wolff said: ”After that weꦺ always had friendly contact but never discussing driving."

However, Wolff doubts that a driver pairing of Verstappen and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton would have worked at Mercedes. 

“Would Max and Lewis have ಌfunctioned? Maybe not,” he said.

“And Lewis is a Mercedes🧸 guy since forever, so that hard question I never needed to ask myself for the organisation. Everything happens for a reason.

“But I had two drive𓄧rs in the seats, no deal with a junior team, so it was clear th🌼at the option with Toro Rosso was what they needed to do. And they did well.”