George Russell’s remark that Mercedes is in “ongoing” conversations with Max Verstappen, and that this may be delaying a new contract for Russell, has revived one of Formula 1’s most curious driver market stories.
The prospect of Mercedes stealing Verstappen from Red Bull, where he is under contract until 2028, first seriously emerged last year but seemed to be parked when team boss Toto Wolff said that he and the Verstappen camp had agreed in the summer of 2024 that it was best not to continue negotiations for now.
Mercedes announced youngster Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for 2025, although neither Antonelli or Russell are guaranteed to keep their seats beyond this season.
With Russell starting 2025 very strongly but still not having a new contract, Mercedes has continued to be sporadically linked with a potential Verstappen move - at least in part due to his occasional dissatisfaction with Red Bull’s car development and paddock rumours suggesting that Mercedes is in a better place than Red Bull for F1’s new car and engine rules next year.
Russell, who won the previous race in Canada, told Sky Sports F1 in Austria this week that “it's only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing” as Mercedes tries to get back on top, and hinted that Wolff told him Verstappen is the only driver who might be performing as well as or better than him right now.
"Toto has made it clear to me that he thinks how I'm performing this year is as good as anybody," he said.
“There's only one driver that you can debate in terms of performance. These are his words, these are not my words, so that's why I have no concern about the future.
"But there's two seats at every team and I guess he needs to think, who are those two drivers going to be for those two seats? And I guess that's what the delay is."
Though Verstappen has a Red Bull contract until the end of 2028 and the team has repeatedly rubbished the prospect of him leaving, a performance clause exists giving Verstappen the chance to leave this year if he wanted to.
The exact detail is unknown but it is understood to be valid if Verstappen is outside the top two in the championship - he is currently third - some time around the summer period that F1’s now entered.
On Thursday, when asked if he would be a Red Bull driver in 2026, Verstappen said: "It’s not really on my mind. Just driving well, trying to push the performance, and then we focus on next year."
Wolff has coveted the idea of signing Verstappen in part due to regret over missing out on him to Red Bull back when Verstappen was in Formula 3.
He was asked repeatedly about Russell’s comments, possible talks with Verstappen, and the decision-making process, when he appeared in Friday’s FIA press conference the day after Russell’s comments emerged.
Wolff did not deny there have been, or still are, talks with Verstappen or his representatives and did not completely close the door on a move, admitting “clearly you need to explore what’s happening in the future”.
When asked if anything had changed since he said he does not ‘flirt’ outside if he is happy with his current line-up, Wolff replied: “Define 'flirting'...No. Nothing changed. There is no 'flirting' in that sense. You know, you can 'flirt', or you have conversations.”
The expectation is still that Verstappen will remain where he is and Russell will get a new Mercedes deal that falls in line with the team’s usual practice of conducting and completing negotiations during the summer.
Wolff said there is “nothing” else Russell has to do to earn a new contract given his long-term status as a Mercedes driver since his junior days, and said he “needs to be top of the list” because of that and the fact he is an F1 race winner with the team.
“People talk, people explore, and most important is that in our organisation, we are transparent,” said Wolff.
“But it doesn't change a millimeter of my opinion of George, his abilities or anything else.”
Wolff reiterated his desire not to discuss the details of such considerations in public and said he is “extremely happy” to have a Russell/Antonelli line-up.
He also firmly shut down a question about whether there was a deadline for Verstappen and who he would replace if he decided to go to Mercedes.
“You make it sound like we have been asking ‘when do you want to join and what are the terms?’,” said Wolff. “That's not how it is or how it works.
“I want to just have the conversations behind closed doors, not town halls.
“We have two drivers that have been in our programme for a long time. Drivers that I'm very perfectly happy to have. Drivers that will do great in the future of the team.
“So it's a bit different the situation [to what was suggested].”
