Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff said in the statement that announced George Russell and Kimi Antonelli would be staying with the team in 2026 that “confirming our driver line-up was always just a matter of when, not if”.
Yet for some time this season there very much was doubt about who would be driving for the former champions next season.
The spectre of Max Verstappen has hung heavily over both Mercedes drivers for a fair portion of this season – and Russell more so than Antonelli.
Wolff said at the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season that a move for Verstappen was “not on any radar”.
But it was a statement that reflected Wolff’s acceptance that the prospects of attracting Verstappen were relatively distant, and was aimed at deflecting disruptive questions.
It did not change the fact that Wolff was interested in Verstappen, and everybody in F1 knew it.
Wolff tried to get the Dutchman last year, before eventually admitting defeat. And they had talks again this season.
It was Russell who explicitly spelled out what was happening, at the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June.
“It’s only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing,” Russell said. “But from my side, if I’m performing as I’m doing, what have I got to be concerned about? There are two seats in every Formula 1 team.”
That was a reference to Russell’s emphatic victory in the previous race in Canada, and to the fact that the Briton was already by that point not only having arguably his best season in F1, but comfortably outperforming his highly touted rookie team-mate.
Finally, at the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July, Verstappen put the story to bed by saying it was “time basically to stop all the rumours”.