Max Verstappen has denied claims he is in regular contact with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

Reports earlier this week quoted Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko stating Wolff makes frequent calls to the Verstappen family.

When asked by RaceFans today in Shanghai about the reports Verstappen said: “I was surprised when I read that because first of all I never speak to Toto. He never calls me. He doesn’t even have my number. So I found it funny.”

Verstappen admitted Wolff does speak to his father, former Formula 1 driver Jos. “They do talk sometimes but it’s mainly about babies and go-karting.”

Red Bull and Mercedes both made approaches to Verstappen before he signed for the former and made his grand prix debut with Toro Rosso in 2015. Mercedes potentially has a vacancy in its driver line-up for the 2020 F1 season as Valtteri Bottas is out of contract at the end of the year.

RaceFans understands Verstappen has a get-out clause in his Red Bull contract which releases the driver if the team is lower than third in the constructors’ championship at a certain point in the season. Verstappen would not confirm the existence of the clause when asked by RaceFans.

“I cannot talk about my contract,” he said. “I never talk about the contract, I think it’s quite normal.”

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2019 F1 season