Red Bull boss Helmut Marko has revealed that Mercedes principal Toto Wolff is in regular contact with his star driver Max Verstappen.

The Dutch racer, who is one of the hottest properties in F1, has had a relatively quiet start to the 2019 season, finishing third in Australia and fourth in Bahrain.

But his value has not gone unnoticed by Mercedes, whose Lewis Hamilton currently leads the championship, with Wolff and co reportedly keen to bring Verstappen in.

“Toto Wolff regularly calls him and his father, Jos," Marko told Autobild, per Planet F1, this week.

“I am relaxed about it."

However, Marko, who also confirmed that Verstappen does have a performance clause in his contract, is confident that he can persuade F1's youngest ever race winner to remain with Red Bull should they be able to give him a shot at the title.

"He feels good with us and if we give him world championship material, I will not worry that he will stay.”

Verstappen's recently signed an extension to his current contract which will keep him with the Austrian outfit until 2020, although it would appear he may not be too keen to add to it further.

Red Bull switched to using Honda engines for this F1 campaign, and things have not run smoothly. The RB15 has continually struggled with aerodynamic issues in 2019.

Verstappen even claimed his team's form 'could not have been worse' in Bahrain, with his teammate Pierre Gasly.

The energy-drink backed team will be working around the clock to rectify these problems in order to avoid their Dutchman seeking pastures new.

For Mercedes, it will be intriguing to see whether they will follow through with this initial contact. So far, both of their drivers have a win apiece following the first two races of the season, whilst they also lead the constructors' championship.

Should Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton continue in such form, they may decide to wait a bit longer before making a change.