"Toto has got my hair going grey prematurely with this": Fans react to George Russell admitting he has no updates on his Mercedes contract

F1 fans were left frustrated after Mercedes driver George Russell admitted that he had no updates regarding signing a new contract with the German team ahead of the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix. The British driver has impressed everyone with his consistent performances this year and has been on the podium multiple times despite the W16 not being the most competitive car on the grid.

The 27-year-old joined Mercedes at the start of the 2022 season and has taken over the role of lead driver after Lewis Hamilton departed from the outfit to join Ferrari ahead of this year.

The four-time F1 race winner proved his mettle once again after he dominated the Canadian Grand Prix a couple of weeks back and heads into Spielberg full of confidence, given that he won the race at the Red Bull Ring last year.

When he was asked by F1.com regarding updates on a potential new deal with Mercedes, George Russell admitted:

“It's not something that I'm pressing massively because, as I've always said, the performance is the priority, and I feel with the performance I'm showing at the moment – still in line with the performance I've shown over all these years – I've got zero reasons to be worried. But obviously it does help if there was pen on paper.”

F1 fans took to social media platform X to give their reactions to George Russell's comments about his new deal, with one fan claiming:

"Toto has got my hair going grey prematurely with this." "Toto, you cannot imagine how bad I hate you," "I bet he has the contract. With Mercedes or with the other team, but has. So he is confident," said a fan.

Here are some more reactions:

"He needs to do a LH and get out. The disrespect is embarrassing," wrote a fan. "Sign for someone else George. I'm sure plenty of teams will value you.. Toto id clearly waiting on max's decision.. my opinion of course," suggested a fan. "Maybe in the summer break," claimed another.

George Russell is out of contract at the end of the 2025 season after signing an extension in August 2023.

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George Russell previews the Austrian GP this weekend

Mercedes driver George Russell believed that the Canadian Grand Prix weekend was a one-off for the team, and he expects them to struggle in Austria, given the projected high temperatures throughout the weekend.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the King's Lynn-born native reflected on the weekend and said:

“I think the performance of Canada was definitely a bit of a one-off. We were on pole last year in Canada, we probably should have won the race, and our car performs really well when the tyres are not overheating, so on tracks where it's low-speed corners, where it's smooth tarmac, hopefully when the temperature is dow.

He further added,

“At fast circuit tracks where it's hot, like Barcelona, like Imola, probably here [in Austria], it's not so good.”

George Russell is sitting in the driver's championship with 136 points to his name after ten races and two sprints in the 2025 season.

Edited by Tushhita Barua