George Russell on conflict amid Mercedes contract talks: "Put me at risk"

George Russell has addressed the challenges of negotiating a contract extension with Mercedes

George Russell has spoken out on the conflict generated from having Mercedes as his management and trying to negotiate an extended deal with the team. The British driver explained to Motorsport.com and other media ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that while their interests and goals have been aligned for years, this may have shifted in the last six months.

Russell's current contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the year. While he claims that he is in no rush to sign a new deal and is confident that it will come through, there had been some question marks around his future with the Brackley outfit when team chief Toto Wolff confirmed he was in talks with Max Verstappen.

Wolff has since confirmed that his priority is to sign Russell and his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli for 2026, but no contract announcements have been made yet.

Asked about whether he should manage his own career instead of Mercedes, he highlighted the "unique situation" he finds himself in as he admits it's been "conflicting" for him.

"I mean, from my whole career until last year, the team have supported me so much and given me such amazing opportunities. Our goals have been aligned and what has been in the best interest of the team has also been in the best interest of me.

"Now, of course, these last six months have been a very unique situation where I don't have huge power in that sort of agreement and maybe the interests were not aligned for some time, which has, of course, put me at risk for these last six months, but then it was my job to perform and reduce that risk.

"I don't know, to be honest. I don't wish for it to come to anything like that [to take his career into his own hands]. I still trust Toto and I still trust in the team that they will always support me as long as I'm performing. So that's what I need to focus on. But of course, for both Kimi and I, these past months have not been the most assuring for our future and that's just been a bit conflicting."

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Russell confirmed that there is "no time pressure" from his side with regards to signing a new deal with the team.

"[Mercedes] had no rush to sign Kimi or I because we've got this longer-term overriding deal in place. But the truth is, I've never feared losing my seat, and that's not even been on the table once this year, even though you guys like to make a big deal out of it.

"But now it's been a long time that maybe 12 months ago I was a bit more anxious and wanted to get something sorted or confirmed for '26, maybe six months ago, I felt the same, but now I'm performing better than ever. I still feel I've got more to give.

"I've waited so long and I think now I want to get through this weekend, I want to go on holiday next week and enjoy the break, and there is no time pressure my side. There's no time pressure from the team side. So, whenever we come to an agreement, we'll get it done, but it's got to be right both ways."