Guenther Steiner names the one driver who ‘could be screwed’ in next year’s F1 driver market

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Guenther Steiner knows a thing or two about signing the right driver for a Formula 1 team.

His Haas team initially started life in F1 with Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez and he stuck with the Frenchman for five seasons.

Gutierrez lamented his back luck at Haas although Guenther Steiner may have wished to have the Mexican back in the team when he was running Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Steiner previously warned Alpine against signing Schumacher and has now had his say on how next season’s driver market could play out.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Guenther Steiner was examining the ins and outs of the Mercedes F1 team.

Lewis Hamilton triggered the chaos in the driver market by announcing he would be joining Ferrari in 2025 before the season even started.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

Seven drivers including Hamilton will be driving for new teams next year including several rookies.

One of those rookies is Kimi Antonelli who wasn’t announced until Monza despite Mercedes looking set to back the 18-year-old for months.

Steiner has now said that Antonelli’s arrival and Max Verstappen’s potential availability could spell bad news for George Russell.

The two-time race winner has been Toto Wolff’s prodigy for some time, but the thought of Antonelli and Verstappen may be too tempting to the 52-year-old.

Guenther Steiner thinks George Russell ‘could be screwed’ at Mercedes

Steiner was discussing the engine situation for 2026 when the rulesets change and how that might impact Max Verstappen’s future.

Asked if Russell might be screwed if the Dutchman decides Mercedes is his best bet going forwards, Steiner said: “Yes, could be screwed, not might be screwed, could be screwed.

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

“But I think he’s aware of this and the only way to prove his worth is by having the results against Kimi Antonelli, the guy who crashed in FP1.

“Yeah, but it’s also how you beat a rookie. If you dominate him, like at some stage, you know, as much as Toto loves Kimi, if he doesn’t deliver, I think the love is over pretty quick.

“Yeah, it is conditional on your performance. I love you as much as you perform.”

Martin Brundle explains why Russell will be ‘nervous’ about Antonelli’s arrival

In a head-to-head battle next season, Russell will expect to be the lead driver at Mercedes ahead of Antonelli.

The Italian has done a lot of testing in F1 cars behind the scenes but has nowhere near the level of experience of Russell.

However, Antonelli is extremely highly rated by Mercedes and Wolff has promoted him so quickly through the ranks because he believes in his potential.

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

Martin Brundle shares why he thinks Russell will be nervous about Antonelli’s signing even if he has the upper hand on the 18-year-old at the beginning of next season.

The 26-year-old’s contract ends at an awkward time in the grand scheme of Formula 1 with most teams preparing their line-ups for the new regulations in 2026.

Mercedes will want to mirror that stability but things will change very quickly if Verstappen does suddenly make himself available.