Apr.19 (GMM) George Russell says it will be “fully comprehensible” if Mercedes made a bid to signal Max Verstappen for 2026.
Rumours about Verstappen’s future are swirling extra intensely than ever within the Jeddah paddock, amid ideas Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is behind a three-year, $300 million provide to signal the quadruple world champion.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff can be , though he’s preserving publicly fairly quiet so as to again present lineup Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli.
Russell, 27, is out of contract on the finish of the yr, however he’s additionally driving career-high type. Ousting Antonelli would appear unlikely, however so too is the prospect of a Russell-Verstappen partnership.
“I don’t suppose so,” Vowles, the Williams boss who remains to be near Wolff, stated in Saudi Arabia when requested if he can think about the 2 drivers as teammates.
“I believe they’re two very completely different characters.”
Russell, nevertheless, sounds extra open to the thought – or at the least pragmatic about Verstappen’s potential availability.
“Why wouldn’t they need to signal Max?” the Briton stated. “That’s fully comprehensible. He’s the perfect driver for the time being. He’s a four-time world champion.
“That’s nothing towards myself or Kimi. There are two drivers for every crew and he (Verstappen) is only one individual.”
If Russell sounds relaxed, it may very well be as a result of he left Bahrain a number of days in the past amid authoritative hypothesis that Wolff was poised to supply him a profitable new two-year contract.
“Rumours are by no means very dependable, are they?” he laughed at Jeddah.
“A few of them are fairly near actuality, I suppose, however on the finish of the day, we by no means talk about contracts till Could or June of a season.”
Russell additionally identified that – as Verstappen’s present state of affairs is proving – contracts in Formulation 1 are hardly ever price way more than the price of the paper and lawyer’s charges.
“Relating to contracts, everybody will get excited, however the reality is that drivers have contracts and in the event that they don’t carry out, they get changed. For drivers, efficiency is our forex,” he stated. “That’s all we’ve got.
“I’m not anxious as a result of my efficiency speaks for itself. I’m performing in addition to anybody on the grid for the time being.”
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