Still without a contract for next season, George Russell has confirmed speculation that it’s the fine details that are holding up the process, such as the number of PR commitment days.

Stepping into the role of lead driver after Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes for Ferrari, Russell has cemented his position as the team’s number one with two victories in Canada and Singapore.

George Russell has yet to sign a new deal with Mercedes for F1 2026

The only non-McLaren driver not called Max Verstappen to win a grand prix this season, Russell is fourth in the Drivers’ standings as he chases a spot on the season’s podium.

Although earlier this year, Verstappen was said to be the hold-up as the reigning World Champion spoke with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff about the future, Verstappen has since declared his commitment to Red Bull.

And yet, two months down the line, Russell still doesn’t have a signed contract.

It’s led to speculation with Sky F1 presenter Simon Lazenby saying Russell is “the one that’s now keeping Toto waiting” with the duration of the deal and salary touted as potential stumbling blocks.

However, 2016 Mercedes World Champion Nico Rosberg revealed there could be another reason for the delay, sponsorship commitments.

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According to the German, Mercedes asks from its drivers for as many as “60”, sometimes even “80”, days.

“Nowadays,” he said, “these teams have so many sponsors, asking so much, paying so much money, and the only way for a team to give back to a sponsor is, of course, logo space, which is limited. And they want driver time. They want their customers to be able to meet George Russell, and so they’re using the drivers so much.”

Russell confirmed that, along with other commitments outside of grand prix weekends, was something he was negotiating with Wolff about.

Asked after his victory in Singapore why he didn’t yet have a contract in place, he quipped Channel 4: “Well, I think you’re asking the wrong person here.”

However, he then went on to explain that details are still being ironed out, details that would allow him to have a “sliver of a life” outside of Formula 1.

“This,” he continued, “as with every new contract you sign, it’s the most important one of your career. I’ll be 28 next year. I’ve been with the team for so long, but there’s so many factors that I want to be right.

“And you sort of learn as you grow older what’s important to you. And you know, race weekends is just the iceberg of our job, and we spend so much time on the road with sponsorship days, days on the simulator, seeing the team.

“It’s the details, just finding you know that right compromise that you can still have a sliver of a life outside of a sport to be able to see my young nieces and nephews, who I see once a year.

“It’s things like this.”

Wolff also made it clear that the hold-up was about the details, and that they weren’t any huge sticking points.

“Contract-wise, good things take a while,” he told the media after Russell’s Singapore Grand Prix win. “It’s about the detail, and it’s not about the big topics.”

The team principal was full of praise for Russell, who he says has “been formidable this year.

“I haven’t seen mistakes. There were weekends that he himself said, ‘I could have done more, and I wasn’t a good race’. But this happens with any driver.

“You can see when it just merges, the car being in a perfect space, and the driver being on top of things, that becomes a dominant formula, and that is what we’ve seen here.”

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