Toto Wolff says Mercedes will make a decision about who drives for them in the 2026 season in Formula 1’s August summer break amid fresh links to Max Verstappen.
Focus on Mercedes’ driver line-up for next year was heightened at the Austrian Grand Prix after George Russell disclosed in an interview with Sky Sports F1 that the team were talking to Verstappen, Red Bull’s reigning four-time world champion.
Russell and rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli are yet to find out whether they will be retained by Mercedes for 2026.
Team boss Wolff later confirmed that there were “conversations behind closed doors” taking place in order to explore “what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future – and that can be long into the future”. However, expressing his happiness with his current pairing, Wolff also said that it was still more likely that Russell would be driving for them in 2026 than Verstappen.
Red Bull, meanwhile, have described Mercedes’ comments about their driver as “just noise” with Verstappen on a contract with them that runs until 2028, although one which is understood to contain performance clauses to allow an earlier exit in certain scenarios.
Speaking after Sunday’s race, Wolff said Mercedes were comfortable with the situation they were in, but did indicate that a final call on their 2026 line-up would be made relatively soon. There are three more races in Britain, Belgium and Hungary to go over the next five weeks before the F1 season pauses for almost a month.
“You need to be respectable towards the stakeholders in all of that process – the organisation, the drivers, everybody,” said Wolff on the timeline for a decision.
Highlights from an enthralling Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring
“You need to understand the way forward. I don’t want to be sadistic in letting a driver wait or not taking any decisions when it should be taken.
“I feel we are in a good space, we’re [in] June, there are lots of discussions around.
“I’ve been open with it, transparent. And at a certain stage, in the next couple of months, until the summer break, everything is going to be done.”
Asked if he meant a decision would be made at the start or end of the summer break – which runs from after the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 3 to the start of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend on August 29 – Wolff quipped: “Maybe in the middle!”
‘You’ve got to understand what other people do’ – the Mercedes view
Toto Wolff revealed Mercedes are having chats with Max Verstappen
Wolff had spoken to Sky Sports F1 on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring about where they stood with deciding on their line-up for next season, the first year of the sport’s big rules overhaul:
“I think when you look at the situation we have with Kimi and George, we have a perfect line-up that we very much enjoy and that we believe is the future.
“But, at the same time, there is a four-time world champion that needs to decide what he is going to do in the future and that is just, as a team principal, you need to see where that is going.
“But I think I give it a very little probability that it’s going to happen.”
Did Wolff mean that ‘there was “little probability” forever or just for 2026?
“You don’t know what’s going to be in three or five years, that’s why you need to look at what is it that should be considered on the long term.”
And what needed to go in their favour amid a timeline for a final call?
“Nothing needs in a way to come favourable for us, because with George and Kimi is what we want to be and what we want to continue.
“But in order to plan right for the long-term future you’ve got to understand what other people do.”
‘I think Max gets quite annoyed by it’ – the Red Bull view
Red Bull boss Christian Horner is confident Max Verstappen will remain with the team and that he won’t replace George Russell at Mercedes
Christian Horner, Wolff’s counterpart at Red Bull, was later asked after qualifying by Sky Sports for his response to Mercedes’ remarks:
“It is a lot of noise. I think Max gets quite annoyed by it. We are very clear with the contract that we have with Max until 2028.
“So, anything is entirely speculative that is being said, but we tend not to pay too much attention to it.”
Had an attempt been made to destabilise Red Bull at their home Grand Prix, perhaps?
“I can imagine that George is frustrated he hasn’t been given a contract yet, but that’s between him and his team.
“The situation with Max, we know clearly where we’re at and obviously as does Max.
“Everything is subject to noise and, obviously, within any contract it remains confidential between the parties.”
‘You would look next year at the performance of the top teams’ – the pundit view
George Russell and Max Verstappen have had a fractious on and off track relationship over the past 12 months
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok gave his take on what he thinks is really going on:
“We don’t know what the thresholds are in terms of him being able to extricate himself from the Red Bull contract, but if you were Max Verstappen, you would look next year at the performance of the top teams and then pick and choose where you want to go in the future.
“Because I think any of the teams of the grid would want to have Max in the car. He’s the standout driver of recent times.
“And from Max’s side, the new generation of rules and power units could set the tone for the next five or six years, like what happened with Lewis back in 2014.
“For next year, there’s a bit of a dance going on where people are trying to gauge the situation. And then for 2027, the market could go completely mad.”
Sky Sports F1’s British GP schedule
Thursday July 3
2pm: Drivers’ Press Conference
6pm: The F1 Show Special
Friday July 4
8.45am: F3 Practice
9.55am: F2 Practice
12pm: British GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
1.55pm: F3 Qualifying
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: British GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show
Look back at some of the most dramatic moments throughout the years at the British Grand Prix
Saturday July 5
9.10am: F3 Sprint
11.15pm: British GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: British GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: BRITISH GP QUALIFYING*
4.55pm: F4 Race 1
5.40pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 6
8.15am: F4 Race 2
9.25am: F3 Feature Race
11am: F2 Feature Race
1.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: British GP build-up*
3pm: THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX*
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction*
6pm: Ted’s Notebook*
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Next up in the 2025 Formula 1 season is the big one, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase with coverage from Thursday to Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
