Max Verstappen to Mercedes ‘complication’ spotted as Russell lifeline emerges
Max Verstappen could trigger a “completely mad” driver market by moving from Red Bull to Mercedes for 2027, with George Russell handed a one-year contract extension for the F1 2026 season.
That is the claim of Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok, who has spotted a “complication” with rumours that Verstappen could switch to Mercedes as soon as next season.
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Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, told media including PlanetF1.com last year that Verstappen’s deal contains a “performance element” that could see him leave before the end of 2028.
It has been speculated that Verstappen will have the power to activate an exit clause for F1 2026 if he is lower than third in the Drivers’ standings after a certain point of the 2025 season, believed to be around the time of next month’s summer break.
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Russell, whose current contract is due to expire at the end of F1 2025, revealed ahead of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix that negotiations between Verstappen and Mercedes are “ongoing.”
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, did not deny the claim when asked by media including PlanetF1.com in Friday’s press conference at the Red Bull Ring, calling for such details to be kept “behind closed doors.”
Appearing on Sky F1’s coverage of the Austrian Grand Prix, former Red Bull junior Chandhok declared that every team on the grid would be interested in Verstappen.
And he speculated that Mercedes might be pushing for a short-term deal for Russell to keep its options open for the F1 2027 season.
Asked if Verstappen would be open to a move to Mercedes for F1 2026, he said: “I guess the answer is yes.
“We don’t know what the thresholds are in terms of being able to extricate himself from the Red Bull contract.
“But if you were Max Verstappen, you would look at next year in particular and look at the performance of all of the top four teams and then pick and choose where you want to go for the future.
“Because I think any of the teams on this grid would want to have Max in the car. He is the standout driver of recent times.
“And in Max’s case, the new generation of rules, the new generation of power units could set the tone for the next five, six years, like it happened with Lewis [Hamilton] back in 2014.
“I feel like next year, there’s a bit of a dance going on where people are trying to gauge the situation and then in 2027 the market could go completely mad.
“But reading between the lines, that’s where the complication is.
“Because what does that mean? [Does Mercedes] give George just a one-year deal? Does he want that? He wants long-term stability.
“So that’s where I think there’s some complexities in terms of ironing this whole deal out.”
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Russell’s contractual situation means he, rather than rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, would be most at risk for F1 2026 if Mercedes is successful in its pursuit of Verstappen.
Yet despite the uneasy relationship between Russell and Verstappen, Wolff raised the possibility that the pair could form an effective partnership as Mercedes team-mates.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “I can imagine every lineup.
“I had [Nico] Rosberg and Hamilton fighting for a World Championship, so everything else afterwards is easy.
“There are pros and cons of having two drivers fighting each other hard and we’ve seen examples where that functions and other examples where it didn’t.
“And when it comes to the contact situation, our sport is pressure. Constant pressure.
“Whether you’re in the car, outside of the car, you just need to cope with that. 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.”
Chandhok refused to rule out the possibility of Verstappen and Russell becoming team-mates at Mercedes, claiming the lineup would turn the Silver Arrows into a “super team.”
He added: “Crazier things have happened in F1.
“Honestly, if you had George and Max in the same team, that would be a Mercedes superteam in terms of a driver lineup, so you’d at least think about it.”
More on Max Verstappen and Red Bull from PlanetF1.comChandhok’s fellow Sky F1 pundit Naomi Schiff identified Verstappen as the key to the driver market, with teams reluctant to finalise their plans for F1 2026 until the reigning four-time World Champion makes a decision on his future.
Asked if Russell, who has been linked with the likes of Red Bull and Aston Martin, could be lured away by a rival team as Mercedes delay a decision, she said: “Yes, absolutely.
“But I think the thing that stands out the most here is that I feel even last year we had the same sort of scenario, where Max was controlling the driver market.
“And as long as he was not very clearly saying ‘I am staying at Red Bull for next year’, a lot of teams are keeping their options open.
“That’s what ended up having Carlos Sainz waiting a long time as well and this year we’re seeing a similar thing with George, so that says a lot about Max and how much the teams up and down this paddock want him.
“But George is an incredible driver, there’s no doubt.
“I think there’s a big chance that he’s going to stay at Mercedes, but there’s no doubt that if he doesn’t there’ll be plenty teams up and down this paddock who are going to want him for sure.”
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