Toto Wolff subtly confesses to talks between Max Verstappen and Mercedes as George Russell's contract extension hangs in the balance

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has subtly confessed that the team is talking to Max Verstappen as George Russell continues to have his contract extension delayed. The Brit has been a part of the team since 2022, when he replaced Valtteri Bottas to team up with Lewis Hamilton.

It is his fourth year with Mercedes, and he has arguably been performing at his best, having taken over the leadership role following Lewis Hamilton's departure and move to Ferrari. Unfortunately for George Russell, his current contract expires at the end of the 2025 F1 season. At the same time, Max Verstappen has reportedly been weighing his options for the future as Red Bull continues to struggle.

Early in the year, it did appear that Max Verstappen was going to commit to Red Bull for 2026. However, George Russell dropped a bombshell on Thursday when he revealed that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was having a conversation with the Dutch driver.

Up until now, Toto Wolff has continued to deny any such conversations, and during the Friday press conference, the Austrian tried to skirt the topic as usual. However, he subtly admitted that Mercedes was having conversations with Max Verstappen. When questioned if he was 'flirting' with the Dutch driver, Wolff said:

"Define flirting. No, nothing's changed. There is no ‘flirt’ in that sense. Depends how you act. You can flirt, or you have conversations."

Wolff also spoke about Verstappen and Russell potentially teaming up for the Brackley-based outfit.

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Mercedes boss on a potential Max Verstappen-George Russell driver line-up

Interestingly, it's not only George Russell who is out of a contract at the end of this season. Mercedes signed Kimi Antonelli on a one-year contract as well, and he would also need to have his extension announced at some point.

Wolff was questioned if he would go for a completely different choice of putting George Russell and Max Verstappen in the same team, to which the Austrian said:

"Well, I can imagine every lineup. I had Rosberg and Hamilton fighting for a world championship, so everything else afterwards is easy. There's pros and cons of having two drivers fighting each other hard. We've seen examples where that functioned and other examples where it didn't. When it comes to the contract situation, our sport is pressure, constant pressure."

He added:

"Whether you're in the car, outside of the car, you just need to cope with that, and George knows that, like any other driver knows it. I feel that when you're being put in a comfort zone, sometimes that is actually more detrimental to performance than having a certain pressure point in the system."

With Mercedes rumored to have the best PU for the 2026 F1 regulations, the seat at Brackley is going to be one of the more sought-after options, and it would be interesting to see what path it takes in the near future.

Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar