Russell Vows Long Mercedes Stay Despite Verstappen

Despite Verstappen’s looming threat, Russell commits to a long-term future with Mercedes F1.

Toto Wolff hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Max Verstappen joining Mercedes F1 in the future, reminding this week that both his drivers are only “firmly” signed through 2025.

This is clearly a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, but Russell insisted that he isn’t thinking about his future with Mercedes beyond next season, despite the rumors.

“2026 is super exciting with Mercedes,” said Russell.

“Nothing is signed for the future yet, but it’s something I’m really not even thinking about.”

“As Toto said, there are options in our contracts, and I plan to stay in the family for a long time.”

And Russell is keen to finally capitalize on what could once again be the team to beat in 2026, even if the competition will be fierce.

“Mercedes is going to be a fantastic team, especially with the new engines, but there’s more than one team with a Mercedes engine, so we can’t be too optimistic just because we think we’ll have a fast engine.”

“McLaren will also have a Mercedes engine, and Williams will have our engine too.”

“At the moment, we’re being beaten by McLaren. I don’t see them as a customer team because everything is equal.”

“They’ve built their own team well and have the same engine. But as things stand, they’re doing a better job than us.”