George Russell made one comment that left Mercedes staff very ‘surprised’ at the Austrian Grand Prix

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George Russell continues to enjoy the highs and lows of being a Mercedes Formula 1 driver.

Throughout the ground effect era, Mercedes have struggled with consistency and with fully understanding what makes their car competitive.

George Russell drove superbly to win the Canadian Grand Prix after taking pole position and easily holding off four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

Two weeks later, at the Austrian Grand Prix, he’s finishing more than one minute behind race winner Lando Norris, with Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls just a few seconds further back after nailing a one-stop strategy.

However, what was happening on the track wasn’t what people were talking about in Mercedes circles.

Russell’s contract at Mercedes expires at the end of the season, and there’s plenty of speculation about what might happen next year.

Ted Kravitz provided an update on Russell’s contract situation, but an interview that the four-time race winner gave at the start of the race weekend caught plenty of people within Mercedes by surprise.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height

Mercedes left ‘surprised’ by George Russell’s Max Verstappen comments at the Austrian Grand Prix

Journalist Tom Clarkson was speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast and provided more details on the Russell situation.

He said: “Let’s talk about the story coming into this weekend, where George Russell on Thursday said, well, I’ll briefly quote him, he told Sky Sports, ‘It’s only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are going on.

“‘Toto Wolf has made it clear to me that I’m performing as good as anybody.

“‘That’s why I have no concern about my future, but there are two seats to every team, and I guess he needs to think who those two drivers are.’

“I was surprised that he said that. I think the team was surprised.”

If Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff does want to sign Verstappen, then Sunday’s race could not have gone any better.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli brought Verstappen’s race to an end on the first lap, and Yuki Tsunoda demonstrated just how poor the RB21 is when not being driven by the four-time world champion.

Verstappen isn’t fully convinced by Mercedes’ 2026 prospects, but he will know better than anybody how well Red Bull are getting on behind the scenes in preparation for next year.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 Team from team principal to lineage

How Toto Wolff and Max Verstappen reacted to George Russell’s 2026 Mercedes comments

Journalist Lawrence Barretto was speaking to Clarkson on the F1 Nation Podcast and provided more insight into how Wolff and Verstappen reacted to Russell’s comments.

He explained: “Then you put it to Toto, so he [Russell] asked me in the interview, ask Toto, what’s going on?

“So, I put it to Toto, and Toto was like, well, we’ve got the contracts and timelines in place, so that makes me think there’s probably a contract ready to go.

“They just haven’t put the ink on it at the minute, and that is because Toto is waiting. He’s waiting for something.

“He knows that, probably, George hasn’t got a lot of options elsewhere, that he would love to stay here, so he can probably afford to make George wait a little bit longer.

“And I think that Max’s performance in the press conference when he was asked about his future where he basically said nothing. He wouldn’t give anything away, which is also telling.

“Whether that’s mind games or not. I don’t know, but I just think that this story, this weekend, there is something in it. There’s got to be something in it. It’s just determining exactly what that is.”

Russell is being linked with Aston Martin as a potential destination should he lose his seat to Verstappen.

It’s still impossible to know whether that would be an upgrade or a step backwards, but the Formula 1 driver market is still up in the air heading into the upcoming summer break.