George Russell admits his and Mercedes pursuits might have diverged over the previous six months and resulted in a time that has “not been essentially the most assuring” for his and teammate Kimi Antonelli’s futures, though he says he isn’t feeling underneath stress to conclude a brand new deal.
Max Verstappen’s potential availability led to discussions going down between workforce principal Toto Wolff and the four-time world champion, with Wolff informing the drivers of these talks. Antonelli and Russell are each but to have affirmation of whether or not they’ll drive for Mercedes subsequent yr, however with an overriding settlement in place and Wolff having a hand in Russell’s administration, the Briton admitted the uncertainty has been unsettling at occasions.
“For my entire profession till final yr, the workforce have supported me a lot and given me such superb alternatives,” Russell stated. “Our targets have been aligned, and what has been in the most effective curiosity of the workforce has additionally been in the most effective curiosity of me.
“Now, after all, these final six months have been a really distinctive state of affairs the place I haven’t got big energy in that type of settlement, and perhaps the pursuits weren’t aligned for a while, which has, after all, put me in danger for these final six months. However then it was my job to carry out and scale back that danger.
“So, I do not know [if taking management into my own hands would be beneficial], to be sincere. I do not want for it to return to something like that. I nonetheless belief Toto and I nonetheless belief within the workforce that they’ll at all times assist me so long as I am performing. So that is what I have to deal with. However after all, for each Kimi and I, these previous months haven’t been essentially the most assuring for our future, and that is simply been a bit conflicting.”
Regardless of that outlook, Russell says he’s not involved if a deal just isn’t accomplished earlier than the summer season break, and that truly the await affirmation has lowered his impatience.
“Probably not, no [it hasn’t been tough getting hold of Wolff],” he stated, “as a result of they in the end maintain the playing cards due to the state of affairs we discover ourselves in with the administration settlement. In order that they’ve had no rush to signal Kimi or I as a result of we have this longer-term, overriding deal in place.
“However the reality is I’ve by no means feared shedding my seat and that is not even been on the desk as soon as this yr, although, after all, you guys [media] wish to make a giant deal out of it.
“Possibly 12 months in the past I used to be a bit extra anxious and needed to get one thing sorted or confirmed for ’26; perhaps six months in the past I felt the identical, however now I am performing higher than ever, I nonetheless really feel I’ve acquired extra to offer.
“I’ve waited so lengthy and I feel now I need to get by this weekend, I need to go on vacation subsequent week and benefit from the break, and there’s no time stress on my facet, there isn’t any time stress from the workforce facet. So each time we come to an settlement, we’ll get it finished, however it’s acquired to be proper each methods.”
Whereas RACER understands talks have been progressing positively in relation to a multi-year extension, Russell says he’s open to a shorter deal if it provides him the most effective probability of be” he stated. “It has been clearly a little bit of a novel state of affairs we discovered ourselves in over these final six months.
“From my facet, I need to win – that’s the solely factor I care about. Greater than cash, greater than variety of days of sponsorship, greater than something, I need to win and that for me is crucial factor about my future.”
