Horner “stirring s*** up” over hiring Russell for 2026

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes his Red Bull Formula 1 rival Christian Horner is just “stirring sh*t up” by namechecking George Russell as a future Red Bull option.

Red Bull’s long-term driver line-up has been one of the main conversation topics over the Singapore weekend, with Daniel Ricciardo expected to be replaced ahead of Austin’s US Grand Prix by reserve driver Liam Lawson at Red Bull’s satellite RB team. The widely anticipated move is part of Red Bull trying to get itself in the best possible position for 2026, with Lawson considered a potential future team-mate to Max Verstappen, unlike the veteran Australian.

Red Bull’s conveyor belt of young driver talent faces an apparent mid-term hole, with F2 drivers Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa all some years away from being bona fide main team candidates, while despite his consistent performances for RB Yuki Tsunoda has yet to win over Horner as a potential F1 frontrunner.

It led to Horner cheekily suggesting on TV that Red Bull might be looking at other teams to find its next driver as a long-term Sergio Perez replacement, namechecking Mercedes’ Russell as a potential hire.

“Look, we’re not afraid to go out of the pool,” Horner told Sky Sports. “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.”

His counterpart Wolff swiftly brushed aside Horner’s suggestion that Russell is available, dismissing the comments as his long-time rival playing games in the media.

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“I think he is always stirring sh*t up, it is part of the game,” Wolff reposted. “George is a Mercedes driver and has been forever and hopefully will be forever. We have a long contract with him.”

Russell signed a two-year extension with Mercedes last summer, taking him and the Silver Arrows to the end of the 2025 season. But when Wolff announced Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s replacement in Monza, he suggested there are various options and clauses in Russell’s contract to tie him to the marque for years to come.

“These two are the future,” Wolff said about Russell and Antonelli. “They have been and will be Mercedes drivers, and therefore we have contracts with George and Kimi that go much longer, that are very complicated in terms of options, etc.

“Mercedes has always been a pressure cooker, but this is where we stand as a team today, we want to go with these two.”