Fake news explosion on Max Verstappen’s Mercedes move: how Photoshop and troll accounts fuel rumors. Massive fake news and photoshopped images about Max Verstappen joining Mercedes are spreading online.

Mischief Makers Everywhere Online
“Max Verstappen has triggered his exit clause with Red Bull and signed a five-year contract with Mercedes, source De Telegraaf.” This was the claim of a tweet circulating last night regarding the four-time World Champion joining Toto Wolff’s team. While this scenario is not impossible, it certainly did not happen yesterday. Moreover, the authoritative Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf—usually reliable when reporting on Verstappen—never made such statements. Instead, this misinformation originated from one of many ‘troll’ accounts flooding the internet with fake news, especially after Christian Horner’s recent dismissal from Red Bull.

Some have gone further than merely creating fake profiles for pranks. The fact that Max Verstappen’s private jet recently stopped in Sardinia, where Toto Wolff is enjoying a vacation during the two-week Formula 1 summer break, added fuel to the fire. Using Photoshop and artificial intelligence tools, it has become relatively easy to manipulate images and even create fabricated videos.

One notable example involves a supposedly candid photo of Toto Wolff boarding Max Verstappen’s private jet. This image was crudely edited from a genuine video recorded in 2022, when, after the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Wolff boarded his own jet to return home. (Below are the fake images alongside the original video used to create them.)

As we wrote just a few days ago, this summer promises to be a very hot and intense period for the Max Verstappen-Mercedes saga, especially now that Christian Horner has been dismissed from Red Bull, intensifying speculation and rumors further.