George Russell, Toto Wolff stress that the contract delay is mostly down to details and nothing more where the British F1 driver has to prove himself.
Both Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will continue with Mercedes in F1 2026, but neither have been officially confirmed as yet. While the negotiations on the Italian side is not so much, but on the Brit’s side, it has been talked about quite often every weekend.
It is down to details between the two, mostly the commercial and sponsor activities. It has dragged on for a few months now with no updates from either. But they are chill about the situation. “Surprise, no dates to give you,” said Russell. “I told you you’d be the first to know when there’s something to report.
“I think for any driver, when you get to a certain point in your career, things have to be done right. Every time you renew a contract, it’s the most important one of your life and it has to be done with good care. There’s nothing to worry about, and it will get done when it gets done.
“No, I don’t think so [I am a tough negotiator]. I think it’s just about something that’s fair, mutually beneficial. I think that’s what we all chase. It’s obviously different for certain drivers who may have a bit more power, may have a bit less power. But as I said, no more updates.
“Nothing to report. I’ll be glad to tell you all once there is,” summed up Russell, who noted that there is no danger that it will dragged until the end or beyond the season. “No, I don’t think so,” he continued. “It shouldn’t, to be honest. Yeah, things are moving and progressing.
“And as I’ve said on numerous occasions before, between races it’s not like we sit at home on the sofa with our feet up and nothing else is going on. You know, I’ve been in Brackley and Brixworth, working hard on the sim, looking ahead also to next year.
“I have had couple of sponsor events, training, getting back in shape. So, our schedules are extremely busy. And as I said, there is no necessary danger of that happening. But if it does, it does — but I don’t expect it to,” summed up Russell, as Wolff was equally chill about the situation while praising the Brit for his latest win in Singapore.
“He’s been formidable this year,” said Wolff to media. “I haven’t seen mistakes. There were weekends that he himself said I could have done more and I wasn’t in 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 the dominant formula. And that is what we’ve seen here. Contract-wise, things take a while. It’s about the detail, not about the big topics.”
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