Mercedes dropping George Russell for Max Verstappen is a mistake!

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is a huge fan of both George Russell and Max Verstappen. There is, however, clear evidence of who he is a bigger fan of, as it has become known that the Austrian is talking to the Dutch driver about a future partnership.

By the looks of it, that partnership could come as early as 2026, subject to exit clauses for Max Verstappen and his willingness to join the Mercedes project. If the reports are to be believed, things are as clear as mud when it comes to the future.

The thing that we know for now is that Max Verstappen is having conversations with Toto Wolff, and as a result, Mercedes is holding off on signing an extension with George Russell. Whether it means Kimi Antonelli, whose extension has also not been announced yet, gets the boot or it is the British driver is something that many have also speculated.

For now, though, it does appear that Mercedes is hoping to put together a Max Verstappen-Kimi Antonelli driver lineup for 2026 and, in the process, drop George Russell from the program.

While that would surely be a lineup for the ages, as the current best driver on the grid is teamed up with the next big thing, it would be a mistake for Mercedes to drop George Russell for Max Verstappen.

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#1 George Russell is a top driver in his own right

Is George Russell the best driver in F1 right now? No, but he's bloody close to being one. The British driver shockingly doesn't get enough credit for the fact that he entered a team where Lewis Hamilton was the dominant force, he beat him in his first season with the driver, and then he did so again in their third season together.

This season, George Russell is arguably one of the top 3 drivers in F1 in terms of performance, along with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

If next season Mercedes has a car capable of fighting for the title, George Russell will do it for the team as well.

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#2 You can't afford to fail with Max Verstappen

Something that Red Bull is realizing this season is how fickle top drivers can be in F1. It wasn't long before Max Verstappen just won his 4th consecutive title in F1 with the same team, and within 6 months, he can't commit to the same team.

There is a reality to all of this where Max Verstappen would love to be a part of your team when you're winning. At the same time, when things start to go south, the driver takes off at the first sign of a blip.

This is something that Mercedes would be aware of, as it endured the same with Lewis Hamilton in their ranks during the turbo-hybrid era. At the same time, if somehow the Mercedes project is not firing on all cylinders, next someone will, and the pressure of having the best driver in the same team who can commit to issues is not the place you want to be in.

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#3 The baggage of having a Max Verstappen

If there's one team that knows all about the baggage of having a Max Verstappen in the squad, then it is Red Bull, and that squad is reeling at the moment. The Verstappen clan demands complete commitment from the team, and that means everything from the car to the strategy would be catered to him. Red Bull having such a pointy car is not a coincidence.

To add to this, as soon as the team struck trouble last season, it was none other than Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, who stoked the flames further in the media, making the entire situation untenable at times.

When you talk about bringing Max Verstappen onboard, you're bringing a whole lot of baggage with him as well.

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#4 What about the Kimi Antonelli project?

How would the Max Verstappen-Mercedes partnership work if there is supposedly a generational talent on the same team? The modus operandi when we talk about having a Verstappen on the team is that every ounce of development and growth that the team has is to cater to the Dutch driver (a model Michael Schumacher used to have as well).

There's a reason why the likes of Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda have been made to look substandard alongside Verstappen, even though they're all capable talents.

If Kimi Antonelli is left to just be the second driver in the team, then that stunts his growth. At the same time, what if the Italian driver, who is a prized asset in F1 himself, doesn't take kindly to not being treated well within the team?

Bringing the Dutch driver onboard is a major disruption, and that's something Toto Wolff would have to keep in mind.

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#5 How long are you getting Max Verstappen for?

Max Verstappen has been quite clear that he's not going to be a part of F1 for a long time. The Dutch driver has already shown some level of interest in other sports, including WEC, with a lot of talk around him competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours, something that he's talked about.

To add to all of this, the Dutch driver set a deadline of 2028 as the year he leaves F1. When he signed the mega deal with Red Bull, one of the reasons behind it was that he didn't see himself racing beyond that point.

If we assume that 2028 is a hard out for the Dutch driver, then is Toto Wolff bringing him onboard for just a three-year period during which he could potentially end up burning Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in the process?

It's an interesting argument and does raise serious concerns over why the decision might not be as straightforward.

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Conclusion

Any and every team on the F1 grid, if given an opportunity, would give an arm to sign Verstappen and bring him onboard. He is already one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen, and what he brings to the table cannot be denied.

At the same time, bringing him has its shortcomings, and for a team like Mercedes, maybe the disruption is just going to be too big.