Verstappen no longer on Mercedes radar - Wolff

MELBOURNE -- Toto Wolff says signing Max Verstappen is no longer on Mercedes' "radar" as he prepares to enter talks to extend George Russell's contract with the team.

After Lewis Hamilton announced he was leaving Mercedes to move to Ferrari in 2025, Wolff made no secret of his desire to sign Red Bull's Verstappen as a potential replacement.

The Mercedes team principal held talks with Verstappen's father, Jos, and manager, Raymond Vermeulen, last summer, but eventually called off his pursuit of the four-time champion.

In September last year, Mercedes confirmed junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli would be promoted alongside Russell for 2025, and Wolff says he intends to continue with that line-up into 2026.

"I think we've said it pretty clearly last year, and he [Verstappen] said the same," Wolff told media ahead of this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix. "We need to concentrate on our driver line-up, we need to do the best that we can.

"I don't flirt outside if I'm in a good relationship, and that is true for this year, too. At the moment that [pursuing Verstappen] is not on any, let's say, radar. I don't like to shift my concentration away from these guys [Russell and Antonelli].

Russell is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of this year, but Wolff says a plan is already in motion to enter negotiations over an extension before F1's summer break in August.

"We have had a chat a few weeks ago about what the right timing would be to liaise," Wolff said. "I'm someone who sticks to what he says, and these two are the combination that I want to go forward with Mercedes. I have no other reasons to doubt that.

"We're going to find some time, I guess before the summer. I need to be careful what I say to you, because you will, every month probably, ask when have those discussions happened. But we will do that in a timely manner, without disrupting the season."

Russell said: "I think for both of us, we've had such a long-term relationship, so much trust between one another. We're focused on getting Mercedes back on top, and trying to win races and championships.

"To be honest, in this sport, performance speaks. So from my side, there's no pressure. I've got no doubts about myself, and everything falls into place when the timing is right. As I said, we've got bigger fish to fry right now, which is getting us back on top."

The new season represents Mercedes' first in 12 years without Hamilton in its driver line-up, but Wolff said the change had not felt as seismic within the team as it might have appeared to the outside world.

"I think it felt less different, to be honest, because we got used to it over the course of the season," Wolff said. "And I think there was this moment, Lewis showing up in red for the first time -- I really liked that picture.

"For 12 years, I've said it often, I tried to put him in a suit, and then the first night out with the new one, he's putting the suit on and a tie. But Lewis and Ferrari is iconic.

"I think the sport benefits from it, and from a personal level we wish him to be in a happy place. And at the same time it [our driver line-up] just fell into place. It seems so natural, it's what we've been thinking of for almost a year's time.

"Kimi's been with the team such a long time, also testing Formula One cars, this is just what it is. We're living in the moment, we're living for the future, and the past is great history -- there isn't any better driver-team combination, and we will always cherish this. But now this is the future."