Russell eyes Mercedes future despite Verstappen risk

George Russell has insisted he is “not thinking” about his Mercedes future beyond next season despite suggestions his seat could be in danger.

Russell will be out of contract at the Brackley-based squad at the end of 2025, with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff known to be keen on luring reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen.

New technical regulations will come into play for the 2026 campaign, creating the chance for a pecking order shake-up.

The last time there was such a major change to the F1 rules in 2014, Mercedes emerged as the clear runaway leader of the pack and maintained its advantage for several years.

Although Russell sees the squad’s prospects for the future as bright, the 26-year-old suggested he is unconcerned over his future beyond next year.

“It’s super exciting for 2026 with Mercedes,” Russell told select media including RacingNews365. 

“There’s nothing signed up yet for the future, and it’s something I’m not even thinking about, really.”

Russell wary of Mercedes customer gains

But as well as supplying its own team, Mercedes will deliver power units to McLaren and Williams in 2026.

It is also heavily linked to a tie-up with the Alpine squad as Renault assesses the future of its engine project.

Despite expressing confidence in Mercedes’ High Performance Powertrains department, Russell downplayed Mercedes’ prospects as he pointed out rival teams will be running the same power unit.

“Mercedes is going to be a great place to be, especially with the engines, but there’s more than one team with a Mercedes engine, so we can’t be overly bullish, just because we believe we’re going to have a fast engine.

“McLaren is also going to have a fast engine, and Williams is going to have a fast engine as well.

“At the moment, we’re being beaten by [McLaren]. I don’t view them as a customer team, because it’s all equal.

“They’re their own team which has the same engine. But as it stands, they are doing a better job than us.”