Racing
© Eterna
Laurent Mekies insisted there was no hidden meaning behind Toto Wolff’s highly visible paddock conversation with Jos Verstappen in Montreal, despite the meeting immediately reigniting questions about Max Verstappen’s Red Bull future.
The Red Bull team principal was asked about the exchange in Friday’s team principals’ press conference at the Canadian Grand Prix after footage of Wolff and Verstappen’s father talking outside Mercedes’ motorhome spread across social media. Mekies said the moment was being overread.
“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. “If any of these guys wants to have a chat, it’s going to be a story anyway.”
He said contact between the Verstappen camp and rival teams was a normal part of paddock life, especially given Max Verstappen’s wider racing activity. “We speak all the time with Max and with Jos,” Mekies said. “It’s completely natural that they can have a conversation with Toto. Max was racing in a Mercedes last week, a GT3. So, I genuinely don’t think it’s part of a game plan to get a message or another through.”
The image attracted so much attention because Wolff has made little secret of his interest in Verstappen, while Mercedes has been linked with the four-time world champion since Lewis Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari for 2025. Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull through 2028, but speculation has persisted amid reports of performance-related clauses in that deal.
That background has become more sensitive because Verstappen has also tied his longer-term Formula 1 future to the direction of the rules. After voicing concern earlier in the season about the new power-unit direction and the effect of energy management, he indicated on Thursday that planned changes for 2027 could help persuade him to stay in F1.
Mekies said those remarks should be read as concern for the championship rather than contract signaling. “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 said.
He said Verstappen wants “flat-out qualifying” and “the fastest drivers being able to push as hard as they want in the corners without losing any lap time due to that.” Mekies added that discussions around the issue had been encouraging, pointing to what he called “fantastic” openness from “the FIA, from F1, from all the teams” to make changes, an issue that could matter not just to Verstappen’s stance but to the shape of F1’s next rules era.