George Russell is right and wrong about Mercedes plans amid Max Verstappen talks

Daily Mirror

4 hours ago

George Russell looks impressively calm for a man who seems to know that his Mercedes seat is under threat. And not just from anyone – from the best driver in Formula 1 over the last few years in Max Verstappen, who continues to be linked with a move away from Red Bull in the future.
Russell is out of contract at the end of this year and admitted this week that his team's "conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing". But he followed that up by insisting he has nothing to worry about because of his impressive form this year.
He's absolutely right about his performances, which have left little room for improvement since taking over as team leader from Lewis Hamilton. But even on the back of his win in Canada last time out, I'm not so sure Russell would be as safe as he seems to think if Mercedes were to actually convince Verstappen to quit Red Bull.
Because their other option is to drop Kimi Antonelli, the teenager they fast-tracked into F1 in the belief that he's the sport's next big superstar. Having already been wounded by missing out on Verstappen as a teenager, it's hard to imagine Mercedes could let Antonelli slip through their fingers.
Russell is correct to say he couldn't be doing much more to show Mercedes that he is perfectly capable of leading them into the future on track. Does that mean he's safe, though? Not if Mercedes do manage to turn Verstappen's head. The Silver Arrows' continuing efforts to try to woo the Dutchman suggest they feel their driver line-up can still be improved.
While Russell has comprehensively outperformed rookie team-mate Antonelli so far this year, if Mercedes feel the latter's ceiling is higher then Toto Wolff may yet be forced to let the Brit go. All Russell can do to keep his place is continue his fine form – and pray that Verstappen either decides against a change of scenery, or Aston Martin blow Mercedes' offer out of the water.
Max Verstappen is without race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase in Austria this weekend, for the first time in his whole Red Bull career. The Dutchman's long-serving ally has not made the trip to Spielberg for personal reasons.
Replacing him for this one-off is Simon Rennie who is tasked with helping the Dutchman to avoid getting himself in any trouble. Because scoring one single penalty point this weekend would see Verstappen banned for next Sunday's British Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher was jeered on the podium after 'winning' the infamous 2002 Austria race – because Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello had led throughout and only slowed after the final corner to comply with team orders to let the German take victory.
Ferrari remain the most successful team in Austrian GP history with seven wins, though McLaren or Mercedes would match that tally with victory this weekend.
Alpine are set to stick with Franco Colapinto despite the struggling Argentine reaching the end of his five-race deal, and will continue to drive on a race-by-race basis from Silverstone next weekend.
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