The ‘best and only’ option for George Russell if Mercedes drop him in 2026

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The 2025 Formula 1 grid is almost complete but that doesn’t mean teams aren’t already looking further into the future.

Next year is the final season of the current regulations before new cars are introduced to the grid and each manufacturer is trying to prepare their line-ups for that campaign.

It means after a host of driver changes for next year, the grid is expected to change a lot less in 2026.

One of the few drivers who is out of contract after the season finale next year is George Russell.

The two-time F1 race winner has been nurtured by Mercedes throughout his career after several seasons out on loan at Williams.

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

Next year, he’ll finally have the opportunity to lead Toto Wolff’s team with Lewis Hamilton heading to Ferrari.

However, Wolff has his sights set on another driver in the form of Max Verstappen and that may scupper Russell’s long-term ambitions with the Silver Arrows.

Kimi Antonelli is expected to be promoted to race alongside Russell and Wolff has high hopes for the Italian.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Ben Anderson has shared where Russell could end up in 2026 if Mercedes make the difficult decision to drop him.

While that would be a blow for the British driver, it may not be as bad as it seems.

Anderson believes that the probable best option for Russell would be to do a straight swap with Verstappen and head to Red Bull.

Whether that’s in team principal Christian Horner’s plans is a completely different matter entirely.

George Russell’s ‘best and only’ option is Red Bull if Mercedes drop him for 2026

Asked about where Russell would have to go if Mercedes secure their dream Verstappen-Antonelli partnership, Anderson said: “Well he doesn’t have many options really because of the other top teams outside of Mercedes.

“Ferrari and McLaren, they look locked down to at least the end of 2026 and probably longer in some cases.

“The only openings outside of Red Bull are Alpine if Doohan flops and they decide they don’t want to keep him going after 2025 or Audi which obviously still has an open seat that would be the punt that Carlos Sainz wasn’t prepared to take.

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

“So really his best and probably only option apart from that is a straight swap with Max.

“Max goes one way, George goes the other way and although that would seem like a sort of defeat for Red Bull given obviously everything Max has achieved, I think Russell would be a much better banker replacement for them than some kind of Perez, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Lawson combination which is you know what they’re failing to decide on at the moment for the second Red Bull car.”

George Russell has already selected his preferred Mercedes teammate and it isn’t Kimi Antonelli

Russell doesn’t have to worry about being immediately replaced at Mercedes with Verstappen not leaving Red Bull at the end of this year.

There’s also no guarantee that Antonelli will immediately be a Formula 1 superstar which would make dropping Russell seem incredibly harsh if he’s outperforming the young Italian.

Russell has already picked his favoured Mercedes teammate for when Hamilton leaves and didn’t select the 18-year-old.

That won’t play into Wolff’s thinking who does seem determined to bring in Verstappen after missing out on him all those years ago.

If Russell does see Verstappen take his seat, he may have trouble breaking into the Red Bull set-up.

Horner and Helmut Marko are determined to use the wealth of talent in their academy although the conundrum Sergio Perez is currently posing suggests they may need some outside help.