Toto Wolff laughs off the suggestions made by Christian Horner about Red Bull potentially looking at George Russell for its F1 team.
After the media games from Wolff of bringing Max Verstappen to Mercedes in the first part of the 2024 season, Red Bull’s Horner played his side of things against the Austrian in Singapore, about potentially taking in Russell while looking at the F1 drivers in the market.
Even though Red Bull has Verstappen and Sergio Perez set for beyond the 2024 season, rumours about them leaving continues to play around, especially due to the slip in the team’s form. The Mexican’s place has always been under a question mark when taking in the results in the last few seasons.
And the Dutchman has been vocal about not racing on forever. This puts Red Bull in a bit of bother and with decisions to make. They have let off Daniel Ricciardo from Visa Cash App RB, giving Liam Lawson a chance to prove. And they have Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa waiting in the wings.
Amid the names, Horner stirred the pot by dropping Russell’s name too. “We’ve got a gap now but we just want to take time to consider what do those options look like for the future,” said Horner to Sky Sports F1. “Look, we’re not afraid to go out of the pool.
“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,” summed up Horner, as his counterpart Wolff, laughed off the suggestion from the Brit.
The team has Russell in place for 2025 alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with the Brit to play key role especially after the departure of Lewis Hamilton. Even though they would have liked to have Verstappen to make it a formidable pairing, but they are happy with the experienced and rookie line-up.
Wolff remained unfazed with the stirring stuff that Horner usually does. “Christian is always stirring sh*t up, it is part of the game,” he said to media. “George is a Mercedes driver and has been forever and hopefully will be forever, no contact with him.”
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on all fine between him and Mercedes
Here’s Mercedes admitting mistake with Singapore GP strategy
Here’s Mercedes on troubled Singapore GP
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
