George Russell has been one of the standout drivers of the 2025 F1 season so far. After back-to-back podiums, he enters the Japanese Grand Prix third in the championship.
Russell is only nine points off leader Lando Norris, and one adrift of Chinese GP winner Oscar Piastri. Speaking during FP1 in Suzuka, Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson called him the best performer up to this point.
The prevailing narrative over the winter was that Russell would become the team leader at Mercedes, stepping out of Lewis Hamilton’s shadow after the seven-time champion joined Ferrari. While Kimi Antonelli has broadly performed well, Russell has truly seized that role.
Significantly, he’s out of contract at the end of the season. And amid Mercedes’ ongoing interest in Max Verstappen, there’s added pressure to perform.
Toto Wolff’s ‘reservations’ about George Russell have filtered through Mercedes team
Despite Russell’s outstanding form, The Mail’s Jonathan McEvoy reports that Mercedes ‘haver over their praise’ both ‘privately and publicly’. That naturally raises doubts over his future.
Indeed, ‘nobody’ in the paddock is talking about Russell’s contract amid the overriding focus on Red Bull. And McEvoy has ‘detected’ that Toto Wolff’s long-term ‘doubts’.
Wolff wants an ‘heir’ to Hamilton and may not believe that the former Williams driver fits the bill. McEvoy suspects that these ‘reservations’ have filtered through the team.
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The team principal called Russell one of the top three drivers on the grid after the Chinese GP, but that was described as ‘faint praise’.
Red Bull have publicly expressed interest in Russell, should he become available for 2026. They may be one of the few teams who have a seat available following last year’s reshuffle.
How George Russell caught Kimi Antonelli off guard, ‘really surprised me’
Ted Kravitz thinks Russell could be a title contender this term, though that will rely on Mercedes closing the gap to McLaren. He’s already been the ‘best of the rest’.
Still, Wolff expects a call from team Verstappen following Red Bull’s difficult start. That would give him an almighty quandary, forcing him to either axe Russell or newly-signed teenager Antonelli to sign his dream driver.
Mercedes have long touted the latter as world champion material, though the focus this season is learning. Antonelli has been ‘really surprised’ by Russell in practice sessions, where he pushes almost flat-out.
The 18-year-old’s expectation was that he’d slowly build into the weekend. But Russell’s more aggressive approach is clearly serving him well.
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