George Russell drops bombshell revelation about Kimi Antonelli's uncertain Mercedes future

George Russell has revealed that his future was never a concern at Mercedes, as the question was whether Kimi Antonelli or Max Verstappen would be his teammate. The British driver has now become the main character in the silly season as the driver's contract comes to an end this season.

For some reason that has not been made explicit by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, the driver has not been handed an extension. George Russell has been a part of the German team's setup since forever. He graduated from the team's academy first to F1, where he impressed at Williams, but then was followed by a promotion to the senior team.

After spending three seasons alongside legend Lewis Hamilton and beating him in 2 out of 3 years, George Russell has now come into his own after the former champion's departure to Ferrari.

A contract extension is something that should have been a no-brainer by now, but with Max Verstappen being suddenly available and possibly on the market for 2026, it means that Mercedes has been made to wait.

There are suggestions that when the 'Max Verstappen to Mercedes' rumors were in overdrive, George Russell was the one who could potentially lose his place. As it turns out, the Brit reveals that his position was never in danger. Talking to the media during the pre-race press conference, Russell revealed that the questions were never about his future but Kimi Antonelli's. He said,

"No, not at all, to be honest. It was more of a question of who my team-mate was going to be."

Talking about how he's approached the negotiations, the driver said,

“I think I'm quite rational to how this sport works, and the team felt like they didn't need to sign a deal. I didn't really feel I needed to push it so much when it got to a certain point. I believe in myself more than ever."

He added,

“I've always believed in myself, and my results have always shown that. It's not just the form of this year, but through my whole career since the age of 10 years old. So, yeah, if you back yourself and if you perform, you'll never have anything to worry about.”

George Russell shares update on his contract

Before going into the summer break, George Russell was quite explicit in claiming that there wouldn't be any announcement before the racing resumes. It does appear that George Russell is still waiting, and until everything in the contract he signs is sorted, he's willing to wait this one out. Talking about the contract, he said,

“As I said, nothing was going to happen during the summer break, because from both of our sides there was no reason for it to happen, because we wanted to ultimately enjoy the short time we had off, but things are moving in the right direction."

It would be interesting to see how long this thing continues, as neither of them has any other option at this point.