F1: Verstappen Reveals Mercedes F1 Boss Toto Wolff Congratulated Him

F1 world champion Max Verstappen has revealed that Mercedes F1 boss, Toto Wolff messaged him to congratulate him for his maiden world title victory. "Toto sent a message. He congratulated me with my season and stated that I deserved to win. That was of course very nice of him," said the 24-year-old. The relationship between Verstappen, his father, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen and Wolff had deteriorated across the season especially in the aftermath of the British GP. This could be considered as the thawing of all the bitterness that's transpired between the Red Bull and Mercedes teams as the season has progressed.

At the race, Verstappen and Hamilton collided, for which Hamilton was penalised by the stewards, however, it was a 51 G impact, and the Dutchman not only retired from the race but landed up in the hospital. Hamilton despite the penalty went on to win the race and celebrated the win euphorically in front of his home crowd something which the Verstappen family didn't appreciate. In fact, Red Bull also called out Hamilton as an amateur driver and the social media backlash of the situation triggered a lot of racism against the 7-time world champion for which Mercedes blamed Red Bull.

Max Verstappen was crowned world champion in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi

Since the British GP, Hamilton and Verstappen again came together at Monza and then again had multiple tussles till the end of the season. When Max Verstappen was in F3, Wolff wanted to hire him as a young driver but was swooped away by Red Bull who offered the opportunity to be in F1 in their junior Toro Rosso team at the time. In fact, it was revealed that Wolff was in contact with the Verstappen's for a potential Mercedes drive till earlier this year, but the relationship disintegrated because of the title fight.

Verstappen is contracted with Red Bull till 2023 but has already outlined his wish to be with the team for another decade. While all of this has happened, Mercedes has also protested the end result of the Abu Dhabi race with the FIA and also accused Verstappen of overtaking Hamilton during the safety car period. It has been revealed that Hamilton has requested Wolff to take back the protests, perhaps that's why he also messaged Verstappen acknowledging him as the world champion.