Paddock insider over Russell contract delays – Mercedes and the Racing Bulls are the only Formula One teams who have both drivers out of contract at the end of this season. The Red Bull conundrum continues as to who can race as Max’s team mate and not consign their careers to the dustbin of motorsport.
Yuki Tsunoda, now in his fifth year in F1 and with the Red Bull family, is struggling to make a better job of the RB20 than his predecessor, Liam Lawson, who was sacked after just two race weekends this year. Should Tsunoda and Lawson be relieved of their duties either during or at the end of the season, paddock insiders expect that Isack Hadjar would be promoted alongside Max, while junior programme drivers Arvid Lindblad and Ayumu Iwassa will step into the Racing Bulls team.
Besides the Mercedes’ duo, just Franco Colapinto has a deal which expires at the end of the year and with no top drivers available, questions continue to be asked as to why Toto Wolff has not resigned his new team leader in Russell. Promoted after Hamilton’s failed bid for an eighth world title, the British driver comprehensively beat his seven times world champion team mate in two of their three years together with the Brackley based team.
Russell defensive about his Mercedes drive
In a recent interview Russell theorised about how the lie of the land would look, were Max Verstappen to leave Red Bull. There was an element of desperation in his conclusions, given they each saw the future with him remaining at Mercedes – even alongside Verstappen.
“The fact is: why wouldn’t a team want Verstappen? If I were Toto, and you had two choices… If you could have any driver and all the drivers were available, I would choose myself and I would choose Verstappen – if I were in Toto’s shoes,” Russell explained in somewhat convoluted fashion. The reality is were Mercedes to somehow sign Verstappen, if Russell was the nailed on choice as his team mate, he would have a contract for next year inked and in a safe place already.
It remains the case that neither Mercedes driver have a deal beyond 2025, despite the other drivers’ out of contract for next year (Tsunoda, Lawson, Hadjar and Colapinto) not being of the calibre the Brackley team would engage. The team could replace one of their drivers with reserve Valtteri Bottas, but this would only happen if Antonelli have proven a dud – which he is clearly not.
So Mercedes must believe there is a top driver potentially available and they are hanging out for the summer break, when driver performance contract clauses can be activated. Top drivers have release clauses in their contracts which should their teams not deliver them a car which guarantees them a certain position in the championship means they are free to look elsewhere.
Mercedes remain hopeful of landing Verstappen
Its been well documented for some time, that should Verstappen not be given a Red Bull capable of being placed P3 in the drivers’ title race come the summer break, he could chose to become a free agent. Currently Max is in third place behind there McLaren duo, but George Russell after his win in Canada is now just 19 points behind the world champion.
The gap was 37 following the Monaco Grand Prix, but an ill timed penalty in Spain for Verstappen and a win for Russell in Montreal has halved this difference in just three outings. And with three more weekends before the summer break, the fight for P3 could be incredibly close come the chequered flag in Budapest. Ex-Mercedes F1 world champion, Nico Rosberg, believes there is no solid reason for Wolff’s vacillations over Russell. “There is some delay in it, because [normally speaking] Toto Wolff should actually sign him now. This is his number one driver, his performance this season is mega again. Maybe there are some talks in the background with the Verstappen side.”
Of course Mercedes having been putting it out there that their F1 power unit programme for 2026 is ahead of the field. Given their dominance the last time there were big regulation changes for power in 2014, this would be an attraction for any driver including Max Verstappen.
Yet the Red Bull counter-propaganda is in force this weekend in Styria as the team’s advisor Dr. Helmut Marko chose to reveal details of the Red Bull power unit programme. “It will be a massive change,” Marko told Kleine Zeitung. “Mercedes has already declared itself the favourite; everyone is in the game.”
Red Bull reveal new engine power output
In terms of maximum power output allowed under the new regulations, Marko is confident his team are close to the limit. “There won’t be much difference with the combustion engine. We’re fully on track, thanks in part to the help of Ford, and believe we’ll have a maximum of five Kw less – absolutely fine at this point.” Given the new power units are expected to deliver some 750Kw, 5Kw is not significant and a more efficient aero package cold overcome this kind of a deficit.
The big unknown remains the new enlarged electrical systems, with a battery three times bigger than the current ones in use. “The big factor is the battery,” Marko continues. “How is it cooled? How quickly is it charged? How quickly do you get the energy into the car?
“It’s all about the software, and it’s possible that someone is way ahead in this area. But we have good people, many from Mercedes, and we’ve bought the necessary equipment here in Graz from AVL. But nobody really knows where we stand at the moment,” concludes the 82 year old Austrian.
Horner pokes Toto ‘the bear’
With Red Bull defending their engine programme for 2026 and Mercedes strutting their stuff whilst claiming they are in fact ahead of the competition, theres one clear target audience, and its world champion racer, Max Verstappen.
Christian Horner has admitted to holding talks with George Russell and this weekend is poking Toto the bear, suggesting now Aston Martin are eyeing up Mercedes British racing talent. Yet its Russell who stands to lose the most, given even if Mercedes believe Verstappen could be on his way to Brackley, the man who saw off Lewis Hamilton could yet be out of a job for 2026.
This kind of ‘heel dragging’ type of driver contract negotiations, was the reason Hamilton decided to leave Mercedes despite having a possible one year left on his contract. Lewis wanted certainty, yet Mercedes only offered a one year plus another as an option for Hamilton, who having signed the deal with reluctance immediately went out and negotiated with Ferrari, the “multi-year deal” Mercedes refused.
MORE F1 NEWS – New FIA penalties published. Should Verstappen have been banned in Spain?
Today the FIA have for the first time published the guidelines given to F1 stewards on how to handle on track infringements. This document has been produced since 2022 after the accession by Mohammed Ben Sulayem too the role of FIA president.
The previous season there had been a number of incidents involving Verstappen and Hamilton in their titanic battle to be F1 champion and there was significant criticism of the FIA for alleged inconsistent handling of the various instances. This led to the F1 driving standards guidelines being provided to the stewards.
It was only late last season when the existence of the secret document came to light, when the handling of incidents between Verstappen and Norris in Austin and Mexico City cause a huge debate amongst paddock analysts. Max was accused in COTA of diving down the inside, claiming the corner whilst running his rival off track…. READ MORE
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Tsunoda is also out of contract & if he were to be let go, so would Iwasa who’s also Honda-affiliated, meaning that in the event of Hadjar getting promoted, Lawson would get to stay for the purpose of having at least some driver continuity into the next season with considerable technical regulation changes, not to mention an all-rookie lineup would be especially unideal for any team, which is another reason why Iwasa has zero chance, so he’ll almost certainly be a goner in any case, so only Tsunoda would continue beyond the Honda PU supply stint, if any such driver.
People should simply stop speculating about Russell just because he’s yet to re-sign, which is something that will happen eventually anyway.
I’ve zero doubts about him staying put.