George Russell now privately making ‘exactly’ the same demand as Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes contract talks

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has all but confirmed his team’s driver line-up for 2026.

George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be racing for Mercedes next season unless something unbelievable happens between now and the end of the season.

Mercedes’ pursuit of Max Verstappen has come to an end for now, although it would be a surprise if Toto Wolff didn’t keep tabs on how happy he is at Red Bull going forward.

Russell is in the form of his life, and has a chance of finishing ahead of Verstappen in the drivers’ championship despite Mercedes’ car being inconsistent to say the least.

On the other side of the Mercedes garage, Antonelli is having a difficult time and has fallen well behind Russell in the standings during his rookie campaign.

While Wolff has told the media that his driver pairing is sorted for next year, nothing official has been announced yet.

That might be because Russell is making demands behind the scenes that will remind Wolff of Lewis Hamilton before he departed for Ferrari at the end of last season.

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George Russell’s privately complaining about his fitness levels amid Mercedes contract talks

Journalists Rebecca Clancy and Ben Hunt were discussing the British driver’s future on the Inside the Piranha Club Podcast.

Clancy explained: “Russell, I thought it was really interesting, and actually this is what I wanted to talk to you about because you and I, we know George pretty well now.

“We speak to him away from the track quite a lot. And you and I have had a conversation with Russell, and he was talking about how sometimes he struggles with the training and his fitness.

“Not like he’s not fit enough, but there are just so many marketing days and so many media days and so many commitments that he has to make outside of his job.

“But he gets it all in, but it’s a bit of a struggle. And actually, I thought it was interesting hearing Wolff say that just a few things to iron out about their marketing and commitments.

“And I thought… Lewis Hamilton, being the smart lad that he is, did exactly the same thing, and it’s what any top driver does, right?”

Hunt added: “Yeah, fewer days at work, more money, isn’t that right? I mean, look, it’s always where they push back, the partner days and everything else.

“It’s just part of the evolution of a Formula 1 driver. It’s just what they do.

“They want to do fewer media days and have more time for themselves. So that’s fine, it’s striking that balance between the two.”

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

George Russell complains about tyre choice after Italian Grand Prix qualifying

Russell will start the Italian Grand Prix from fifth, despite being beaten by Hamilton in Q3.

The seven-time world champion’s five-place grid penalty sees him demoted to P10, behind Antonelli, who will join his teammate on the third row of the grid.

Martin Brundle noted an ‘odd’ decision from Mercedes, as Russell asked to do his final run on medium tyres, but the soft compound was fitted.

Speaking in his official post-session interview, Russell said: “We come away from today slightly disappointed with where we qualified.

“There was a miscommunication as to what tyre to run in Q3, but ultimately, we didn’t do the job in that final segment.

“We were fastest in Q1 on the medium and Kimi was second quickest in Q2 on the soft, so we know that there was likely more that we could have achieved than P6 and P7 in the final order.”

The length of Russell’s new Mercedes deal is still unknown, but he’ll want as much security as possible going into the new era of Formula 1.

However, he’ll also want more freedom, and after taking over as lead driver from Hamilton, Russell will want the same privileges that he enjoyed while racing for the Silver Arrows.