Red Bull boss reacts after Toto Wolff and Jos Verstappen spotted in deep discussion in Canada F1 paddock

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has downplayed the significance of a public meeting between Max Verstappen’s father and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff in the Formula 1 paddock.

Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, was filmed and spotted in deep discussion with Jos Verstappen outside of the Silver Arrows’ motorhome in the Montreal paddock during Thursday’s media day at the Canadian Grand Prix.

It comes as speculation continues to linger over Verstappen’s future with Red Bull, and on the backdrop of Wolff’s public pursuit and ‘flirting’ with the four-time world champion last year.

Verstappen has been linked with Mercedes ever since Lewis Hamilton announced his shock switch to Ferrari for the 2025 season, with Wolff admitting he would be keen to sign the Dutchman at some point in the future.

With Verstappen enduring a difficult season at Red Bull, and Mercedes the team to beat in F1’s new era, rumours have ramped up about a possible switch.

But Mekies downplayed the very public talks that occurred between Wolff and Verstappen Sr.

“As much as it may sound exciting to see that from the outside, I really don’t think there is an intention particularly behind it,” Mekies said during Friday’s press conference in Canada.

“If any of these guys wants to have a chat, it’s going to be a story anyway. We speak all the time with Max and with Jos.

“It’s completely natural that they are going to have conversations with Toto. Max was racing in a Mercedes last week in a GT3 [car].

“I genuinely don’t think it’s part of a game plan to get a message through.”

On Thursday, Verstappen hinted he would stay in F1 next season if planned changes to the controversial engine rules are pushed through for 2027.

Verstappen had previously admitted after the Japanese Grand Prix that he was considering his future in F1 due to his dissatisfaction with the new engines.

Asked if the proposed engine tweaks will have a direct impact on Verstappen’s future, Mekies replied: “Max cares about the sport and the reason he has been so vocal is because he genuinely cares about Formula 1 being the pinnacle of motorsport.

“He wants to see flat-out qualifying and he wants to see the fastest drivers being able to push as hard as they want in the corners without losing any lap time due to that.

“There has been fantastic openness from the stakeholders, from the FIA, from F1, from all the teams to say ‘yeah, we need to do something about it’ and therefore I’m sure it’s been encouraging for him and for all of us to see that we are all ready to make steps to fix it. I think it’s important to the sport.”