Russell is close to signing a two-year contract extension<\/a> valued at around US$30 million (A$47.2 million) per season.<\/p>\nThe three-time grand prix winner has been in sparkling form this season, collecting three podium finishes and two front-row starts to put himself fourth in the championship standings.<\/p>\n
The Briton was asked in Saudi Arabia whether the report of an imminent new deal was true.<\/p>\n
Alternative rumours were also put to him, including that he hadn\u2019t started negotiations with Mercedes yet and that his strong start to the year was frustrating Verstappen\u2019s negotiating position.<\/p>\n
Russell appeared to suggest the latter two rumours were valid.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few of them are reasonably close,\u201d he told Sky Sports. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019ve never discussed a contract prior to May or June in a season.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he was relaxed about his contractual situation given his current form.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my side there\u2019s literally no stress, no worries whatsoever,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to contracts, everyone gets so excited about it, but the fact is drivers have contracts, and if they don\u2019t perform, they\u2019ll get booted out.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerformance is our currency. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve got, and if you perform, everything is good.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future sorts itself out.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he also appeared to play into speculation over Verstappen\u2019s position by alluding to the perceived worthlessness of Formula 1 contracts.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s got exit clauses, they\u2019ve all got performance clauses,\u201d he said. \u201cA driver that\u2019s on a three-year contract, it doesn\u2019t really mean anything if they\u2019ve got an exit clause or the team has an exit clause if the driver doesn\u2019t perform. It doesn\u2019t really mean a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how this sport works, and that\u2019s how it should work because we\u2019re 20 of the best in the world and it\u2019s ruthless. There\u2019s no time to mess around. All you can do is focus on driving fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘F**** lovely’ – Max FUMES after penalty | 01:41<\/p>\n
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff appeared to leave the door open late last year to a 2026 driver change after having implied for most of the season that Red Bull Racing\u2019s political crisis could help him bring Verstappen into the fold.<\/p>\n
But speaking to Sky Sports at the weekend, Wolff downplayed the idea that he would jump at the chance to sign the Dutchman.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I wouldn\u2019t say that,\u201d he said. \u201cI always say I don\u2019t flirt outside if I\u2019m happy in the relationship professionally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super happy with the line-up that we have. I couldn\u2019t wish for anything better.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax is at Red Bull. We haven\u2019t had a conversation. We\u2019re continuing our trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also backed Russell as team leader after his strong start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing a top job,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was a little bit always, I wouldn\u2019t say underrated, because he\u2019s such a stoic person, [but] people talked about Lewis or talked about Max.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow you can see how he\u2019s delivering. He\u2019s performing to the maximum and he\u2019s doing really great.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Vowles, the Williams team principal and Wolff\u2019s former chief strategist at Mercedes, suggested the Dutchman wouldn\u2019t be a good cultural fit at his ex-team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is more performance to be added through Max,\u201d he said, per Autosport.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he comes with a lot of downsides as well that we have to acknowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what Mercedes does have is a great culture with two drivers that are delivering near to the peak of the car and with one that\u2019s on the way up, so I personally don\u2019t think that\u2019s a place for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not Toto, but I think he\u2019s got a really good driver line-up for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think with Kimi [Antonelli] \u2026 he\u2019s on a good pathway to being very, very competitive, so you keep investing in that, and George is delivering. You can\u2019t really fault [him]; I mean, he\u2019s been a bit quiet, but you can\u2019t really fault anything he\u2019s done this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell said he still has capacity to improve as the team\u2019s new leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think I\u2019m driving at the best of my abilities, and I feel that I\u2019m getting stronger every single season,\u201d he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still feel there\u2019s a lot of room for me to improve. I feel that I\u2019m not even close to my peak yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat excites me a lot, because I still see areas of improvement that are very much achievable, and that I very much believe will bring performance to my game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell has held informal talks with Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner about a possible blockbuster team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[9257,24995,6207,521,24999,24978,22635,25011,24994,24988,25000,25013,25001,24981,24996,22634,24987,25006,299,24990,24982,4199,6319,707,4200,9824,24992,227,25004,25005,1711,972,22595,1073,300,24993,17670,14673,24984,25012,25009,25010,24986,24979,22604,24985,24991,24976,6506,25008,24997,198,79,24998,24983,24989,25003,22607,24977,25007,16,15,25002,22591,24980],"class_list":{"0":"post-45359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-adrian-newey","9":"tag-alternative-rumours","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-billionaire-team-owner","13":"tag-blockbuster-team-switch","14":"tag-championship-standings","15":"tag-chief-strategist","16":"tag-christian-horner","17":"tag-constructors-championship","18":"tag-contract-clauses","19":"tag-driver-change","20":"tag-driver-market","21":"tag-driver-market-news","22":"tag-driver-market-shake-up","23":"tag-drivers-championship","24":"tag-drivers-title-table","25":"tag-erratic-performances","26":"tag-europe","27":"tag-exit-clause","28":"tag-exit-clauses","29":"tag-f1","30":"tag-fernando-alonso","31":"tag-formula-1","32":"tag-formula1","33":"tag-george-russell","34":"tag-grand-prix-winner","35":"tag-helmut-marko","36":"tag-informal-talks","37":"tag-james-vowles","38":"tag-lando-norris","39":"tag-lawrence-stroll","40":"tag-max-silent","41":"tag-max-verstappen","42":"tag-north-america","43":"tag-northern-america","44":"tag-northern-europe","45":"tag-oscars","46":"tag-paddock-speculation","47":"tag-performance-clauses","48":"tag-perpetual-contract","49":"tag-pit-talk","50":"tag-possible-blockbuster-team","51":"tag-preseason-favourite","52":"tag-qualifying-session","53":"tag-replacement-driver","54":"tag-respective-contract-situations","55":"tag-rumoured-exit-clauses","56":"tag-saudi-arabia","57":"tag-silly-season","58":"tag-single-season","59":"tag-sky-sports","60":"tag-sports","61":"tag-stoic-person","62":"tag-team-leader","63":"tag-team-principal","64":"tag-teams-championship","65":"tag-time-offer","66":"tag-title-favourite","67":"tag-two-year-contract-extension","68":"tag-uk","69":"tag-united-kingdom","70":"tag-united-states-of-america","71":"tag-western-asia","72":"tag-works-engine-supplier"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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