George Russell ‘staying at Mercedes’ in 2027 despite Max Verstappen links

By Philip Duncan, Press Association F1 Correspondent, Spielberg

George Russell has categorically shut down any suggestion Max Verstappen is set to replace him next year by insisting he will “100 per cent” be at Mercedes in 2027.

Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull for another two years but performance clauses would allow him to leave before then, and speculation about his future with the grid’s former all-conquering team continues to swirl.

Verstappen is even understood to be on McLaren’s radar as a potential new team-mate for current world champion Lando Norris.

Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase is already joining the British team when his Red Bull contract expires in 2028, although there is a distinct possibility he could make the switch prior to then.

Mercedes have long courted four-time world champion Verstappen, who is a distant seventh in the championship. But in an interview with the Press Association in March, team principal Toto Wolff insisted there were “no discussions” with the Dutch driver, and claimed Russell could even stay with the Silver Arrows for the next decade.

And speaking ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Russell said: “(There is) no announcement this weekend. But I’ll be racing here (at Mercedes) next year. One hundred per cent.

“It hasn’t even been discussed (with Wolff). We don’t need to discuss it. It’s not even a question mark. I don’t want to go into any more detail, but I will be here next year and that’s the fact of it.”

Russell is 50 points behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli and has not won since he tasted victory at the season-opening round in Australia in March.

He broke down from the lead in Canada last month while mechanical gremlins also struck Antonelli’s car in Spain a fortnight ago, just moments after he had moved ahead of Russell for second place.

Russell continued: “I don’t think it is must-win this weekend but about achieving strong results and being there.

“At the start of the year, my mindset was that a bad day was finishing second. I just need to get back into that place where the bad days are P2 and the good days are a pole and a win.

“I was unfortunate in Canada but if that was the other car, we would be joint on points today. There are 50 points between Kimi and I, but if that was the other car in Canada, it would have been 25 less for him, 25 for me, and then it’s a completely different picture.

“But that’s just how it goes. It is unlucky that it was on my car in that race and on his car in the last race.”