Wolff admits having ’coffee’ with Verstappen

Toto Wolff has admitted he met with Max Verstappen’s father at Monza.

Amid the high-profile talks involving McLaren, Honda, Toro Rosso and F1 officials at the scene of the Italian grand prix, another notable meeting took place rather more quietly.

It was between Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, and former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, amid rumours his frustrated son Max wants to leave Red Bull.

Wolff told the German broadcaster Sky: "Firstly, I know Jos since he was a driver.

"We’ve both got a friend who was there visiting us, Niki (Lauda) and I were sitting in the office, our two Dutch friends were there so we had a cup of coffee."

But when asked if the meeting is a sign that Mercedes is interested in signing Max, Wolff insisted: "For next year clearly not — he is not available.

"After that, he is one of the names that you definitely must have on the radar. Max is one of the great formula one stars of the future, but there are many others as well like Valtteri, Daniel (Ricciardo) and Esteban Ocon."

Mercedes is set to announce a new one-year contract with Lewis Hamilton’s current teammate Valtteri Bottas.