George Russell has dismissed the frenzy surrounding his delayed contract with Mercedes, insisting the speculation over his 2026 seat has been wildly blown out of proportion.
Russell, whose current deal with Mercedes expires at the end of the 2025 season, has emerged as one of the standout drivers this year.
Yet, despite his strong form, the Briton’s long-term future remains unresolved – fueling conjecture, particularly in light of the team’s interest in Red Bull’s Max Verstappen earlier this year.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the British driver emphasized his focus on performance over contract talks, expressing confidence that his results will dictate his path in Formula 1.
“Yeah, I think it is my best season, but probably because this is probably the best car that I’ve had in Formula 1 as well, so you’re always dependent on that,” he said.
“I’m not that frustrated about my future. I’m not really thinking about it anymore, because I know it all comes down to performance and results.
“That’s always the case. That’s the good thing about a sport like Formula One, so yeah, everything will work itself out in due course.”
“More hype externally than internally”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has emphasized that Russell and teenage prospect Kimi Antonelli, who is also out of a contract at the of 2025, remain the team's top priorities for the 2026 season.
“I mean, the conversations have been ongoing, but not sort of directly with me as such. There’s a lot more hype around it externally than there is internally,” Russell said.
“The truth is I’m not even... I think about it on a Thursday, because you guys asked me the question. But these past few months have sort of allowed me to think how I feel about a scenario like this, and you can choose to stress about it, you can choose to try and secure your future, or you can choose not to worry about it and focus on the things such as performance, which secures your future for you.
“So right now, my view, these two weeks off have been great to reset sort of psychologically and mentally.
“I feel happier probably now than I was in the months gone by, and at peace with everything that’s going on. And I’m just thinking about race by race, and I’m in no rush to secure my future. It’ll be what it’ll be.”
No Rush to Sign Despite Earlier Intentions
Russell had originally hoped to finalize his next deal with Mercedes before the summer break, but he now admits that timeline was more of a preference than a deadline – and that, as things stand, a deal is unlikely to be completed imminently.
“To be honest, the intention was always pre-summer break because that’s just people go to summer and you want to get something sorted,” he explained.
“I mean, realistically, is that going to be the case? I don’t know. There is still no contract on the table so to have something done in the space of two weeks isn’t likely and it’s got to be, it’s got to work both ways and you need to talk about the finer details and Formula One’s evolving so much now.
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“You need to go through everything with a fine-toothed comb to make sure it’s all okay. But as I said, there is no rush really from my side because ultimately Toto and the team will decide what they wish to do and I will be in a position of sort of reacting to what they wish to do.
“So, as I said, I’m just focusing on performance and everything else will sort itself out.”
With a composed outlook and continued strong performances on track, Russell appears content to let his driving do the talking as Mercedes ponders its next steps in the evolving 2026 driver market.
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