{"id":36368,"date":"2025-08-01T02:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T02:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/36368\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T02:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T02:02:14","slug":"george-russell-reaction-max-verstappen-commits-to-red-bull-mercedes-seat-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/36368\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell reaction, Max Verstappen commits to Red Bull, Mercedes seat, future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes<\/a> driver George Russel<\/a>l has claimed the media has made a bigger deal out of his contract situation than it is, insisting he has “never feared” for his seat with the team.<\/p>\n

Overnight, four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen confirmed that he would be driving for Red Bull in 2026<\/a>, ending months of speculation of a move away from the Milton Keynes-based squad.<\/p>\n

Verstappen was linked to a switch to Mercedes following internal turmoil at Red Bull<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Pole<\/p>\n

George Russell and Max Verstappen sit fourth and third in the drivers’ standings this season. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

While contracted to Red Bull \u2014 the team he has raced for since 2016 \u2014 until the end of 2028, a reported falling out between Verstappen, now-ex team principal Christian Horner, motorsport adviser Helmut Marko and Verstappen’s father Jos, threatened to trigger an exit clause in the Dutchman’s deal.<\/p>\n

For this to have been enacted, it was also rumoured that Verstappen would need to be outside the top three in the drivers’ championship.<\/p>\n

This is now not possible with the 27-year-old sitting in third position beyond the half-way point of the season.<\/p>\n

However, with Russell not contracted beyond this season and team principal Toto Wolff candid about his desire to acquire Verstappen’s services, the Briton’s future at the German constructor was questioned.<\/p>\n

Despite the persistent rumours, Russell maintains that losing his seat to Verstappen was “not on the table”.<\/p>\n

Asked ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, whether it had been difficult negotiating a new deal with the Silver Arrows, Russell, who is also managed by the team, dismissed the notion.<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes<\/p>\n

Four-time grand prix winner George Russell of Mercedes.\u00a0Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“Not really, no, because they ultimately hold the cards, because of the situation we find ourselves in, with the management agreement,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So they’ve had no rush to sign [teammate] Kimi [Antonelli] or I, because we’ve got this longer-term overriding deal in place.<\/p>\n

“The truth is, I’ve never feared losing my seat, and that’s not even been on the table once this year, even though, of course, you guys [the media] like to make a big deal out of it.”<\/p>\n

Antonelli is also yet to be contracted beyond 2025, with extensions for both drivers not immediately forthcoming.<\/p>\n

However, given his strong performances this campaign \u2014 including a victory at the Canadian Grand Prix \u2014 Russell said there was no rush to lock in a deal.<\/p>\n

“I’m performing better than ever. I still feel I’ve got more to give,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve waited so long, and now I want to get through this weekend. I want to go on holiday next week and enjoy the break.<\/p>\n

“There is no time pressure [on] my side, there’s no time pressure from the team’s side. So whenever we come to an agreement, we’ll get it done, but it’s got to be right both ways.”<\/p>\n

Whilst it was always a long shot that Verstappen would jump ship for 2026 with Formula 1<\/a>‘s next overhaul of its regulations coming into effect, switching to Mercedes for 2027 remains a viable option.<\/p>\n

To seek pastures new, it is understood that Verstappen would need to be outside the top two in the drivers’ standings by next year’s break to enforce his exit clause.<\/p>\n

Russell or Antonelli could sign a one-year extension for 2026, leaving them exposed at the end of the term.<\/p>\n

Russell and Verstappen are the only non-McLaren drivers to take the chequered flag this season, while Antonelli started his rookie season strongly but has failed to score points in six of the past seven races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes driver George Russell has claimed the media has made a bigger deal out of his contract situation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-36368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}