People think that before George was recruited by Mercedes, he was unemployed and no one was interested in him, so he had to beg Mercedes. ohhh deaarr you're wrongg.
He was racing for Volkswagen (Carlin Dallara) in the European F3 Championship. But before that, George received an offer from Mercedes for F3 but George choose to race with Volkswagen because he believed Volkswagen was the best option for him at that time.
Then, Toto thinks George was on the wrong path after he rejected Merc, that's why they [Mercedes & Toto] still want to keep in touch with George.
After Volkswagen, George received an offer from BMW to race in DTM, George did testing with them and he set the fastest lap among BMW's top racers at that time. George almost signed with BMW, but suddenly Mercedes came to George again lol, and this time they fight with other German's factory.
They didn't come empty handed this time, they brought an ultimatum "threat" that if George chose BMW over them, they're out and George would have no future with Mercedes if one day he want to go there.
And ofc, George chose Mercedes for his F1 path.