Toto Wolff took a step towards ending a feud with the Verstappen camp at the recent Formula 1 race at Imola.
The two sides bickered bitterly last year as Mercedes and Red Bull duelled intensely for the 2021 world championship.
But at Imola, while Max Verstappen’s father Jos chatted in the paddock with a reporter for the German publication Sport1, Mercedes team boss Wolff walked past and shook hands with the former F1 driver.
"That was the first contact I had with Toto since Silverstone 2021," said Jos, referring to the race where Verstappen was taken out by Lewis Hamilton and hospitalised.
Some will surmise that 24-year-old Verstappen’s chances of one day switching to Mercedes have therefore risen.
"There are performance clauses in the contract that could theoretically allow Max to exit," Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko admits.
"But a lot would have to happen. And Max is still not a Mercedes fan."