As the Formula One enterprise returns to real racing this weekend in Austria – away from the sprinkle and stardust of movie premieres in New York and London – one of the season’s standout drivers so far is in an unusual predicament. A scenario, you might say, worthy of a drama. No doubt Box to Box, the producers of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive, are rubbing their hands together.
George Russell, at this present stage, can do little more. The 27-year-old, in his fourth season at Mercedes and first without Lewis Hamilton by his side, has taken to the role of “team leader” with poise and serenity. As the Brit acknowledged to The Independent last month, he’s been “getting better and better”.
Let’s take the last two races. Last time out, in Canada, one of the laps of the year saw Russell clinch a memorable pole position. From there, he thwarted any challenge behind him with a composed drive out in front to victory. In a Mercedes car which has been capricious so far this season, it was arguably Russell’s best weekend in F1 to date.
The previous race, Russell held his nerve – and his tongue in the media pen afterwards – after being clattered into by arch-rival Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was duly punished and remains a penalty point away from a race ban, ahead of Silverstone next week.
But Verstappen is lurking in Russell’s background in more ways than one.
Having signed a two-year deal in the summer of 2023, Russell’s current contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the year. His teammate, 18-year-old prodigy Kimi Antonelli, is the golden boy of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. The Italian is going nowhere.
But why the delay for Russell? The Brit is fourth in the world championship, having secured five podiums in 10 races – his best-ever start to a season. He is just 19 points off Verstappen, who has two wins to his name. Russell is executing the maximum possible points outlay on nearly every weekend. Surely, therefore, he deserves some clarity over his future?
Yet speaking to Sky Sports ahead of this weekend’s round 11 in Spielberg, Russell spilt the beans on the worst-kept secret in the paddock: Mercedes boss Wolff does not want to close the door on poaching Verstappen.
“As Mercedes, they want to be back on top, and if you’re going to be back on top, you need to make sure you’ve got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best pit crew, and that’s what Mercedes are chasing,” Russell said.
“So, it’s only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing. But from my side, if I’m performing as I’m doing, what have I got to be concerned about?
“There are two seats in every Formula One team.”
To an extent, Russell is correct in his view. All he can do is prove his worth every week out on track, eking as much performance out of the Mercedes W16 as possible. This weekend, he returns to a race he won last year. Next week, he returns to Silverstone, his home track, where he picked up pole position in 2024. Another set of podiums is the obvious target, behind the frontrunning pace of the McLarens.
Over to you, then, Toto. The Mercedes F1 CEO, a few months ago, was adamant he was not interested in “flirting” with the prospect of poaching Verstappen (who is without his usual race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase this weekend in Austria) from fierce rivals Red Bull and main adversary Christian Horner. The Dutchman, for his part, insists he will be staying with Red Bull in 2026; he has a £40m-a-year contract until the end of 2028.
But here’s the catch for Verstappen and his world championship ambitions. Red Bull are, for the first time, launching their own power unit programme for the new set of engine and chassis regulations next year, in partnership with Ford. That brings with it an element of uncertainty. On the flip side, much like the hybrid era phase of Silver Arrows dominance, Mercedes are fancied as the favourites for next year, such is their expertise in the engine department.
So, could Verstappen replace Russell? It would amount to an against-the-grain move on the part of Wolff, dropping his current top dog for the Dutchman, who is unquestionably a generational driver but, in 2021, was his greatest adversary. Yet, given the vocal rivalry between the two drivers, as well as the two teams, it feels almost unthinkable. It would, simply put, feel bizarre.
And what would that mean for Russell? There are no open seats for 2026 at McLaren, Ferrari or Aston Martin. Therefore, his only option for a front-of-the-pack team would be a move to Red Bull in an effective swap deal. Russell working with Horner, as opposed to against him? Again, very bizarre.
The forecast for the next month, as we build towards the summer break and “silly season”, should be obvious for Wolff: sign up Russell, give your star driver the clarity he deserves, form a plan for the future, and win with your man. It is a view shared up and down the paddock. We await the next steps with intrigue.
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