Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has spoken up on Christian Horner’s claims of George Russell possibly joining Red Bull after his contract expires.
There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Red Bull’s second seat, though Sergio Perez still has a contract to race for the team alongside Max Verstappen for the next few seasons. Daniel Ricciardo’s name was floated around by the media at one point, though recent rumours of his probable exit from Formula 1 say otherwise.
Carlos Sainz was also a strong candidate before signing with Williams Racing. Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda were also thrown into the debate at some point, though Lawson seems in prime position to take Ricciardo’s spot at Red Bull’s sister team. Perez has been under pressure to perform as the candidates list continue to grow as the season progresses.
Stirring the pot
Horner recently made comments during the Singapore Grand Prix about Mercedes driver George Russell being out of contract next year and added it was “foolish” not to consider him as an option:
�“George Russell is out of contract at the end of next year. It would be foolish not to take that into consideration. There are other drivers, talented drivers, that will be out of contract as well.”
When asked about his thoughts on Horner’s comments, Wolff responded:
В?“Christian is always trying to stir the s*** up.”
After a quip about having to go to the stewards for his use of language, Wolff continued: “But, coming back to the point, he’s stirring the s*** up. It’s part of the game. George has been a Mercedes driver forever and hopefully will be forever.”
The golden driver
Russell is Mercedes’ current star driver as Lewis Hamilton is leaving for Ferrari next year. His new teammate will be current Formula 2 driver Kimi Antonelli.
“He’s learning, he’s constantly developing,” Wolff commented on Russell. “That is a skill we have all admired with Lewis – although he’s this great champion, he is constantly developing as a human and as a racing driver.
“So yes, George has all he needs to step in the more senior role in the team and take the leadership when it maybe comes to technical decisions on set-ups that need to be taken. I have great confidence in him.”
The British driver has been fully committed to the team. The German manufacturer gave him his first F1 win back in 2022 and another one this year at the Austrian Grand Prix. He is currently running seventh in the Drivers Championship and has shown an incredible pace, always battling at the front. Russell is certainly a driver many teams will have an eye on after his contract expires.