George Russell must “get control of his own destiny” amid Max Verstappen threat

George Russell has been told he needs to “get control of his own destiny” despite earning a contract extension with Mercedes.

Mercedes announced on Wednesday that they will continue with Russell and rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli as their driver line-up for the 2026 season after prolonged negotiations. Crash.net understands that Russell’s deal is a multi-year one.

Although the expected confirmation ended a long-running saga about Russell’s future, he has been warned that Max Verstappen will remain a threat for 2027. 

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has been courting Verstappen for years and Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok believes the Dutchman will still be on the Silver Arrows’ radar. 

“To me, this whole experience should be an orange light for George that it’s time for him to separate his management away from the race team he’s with,” Chandhok said.

“It’s put him in the passenger seat of this whole process. It’s been dragged out. In effect Toto’s been negotiating on both sides of the table for this deal.

“Max absolutely is a contender for that seat for 2027, then George has got to spend next year trying to get control of his own destiny.

“He needs to put himself in the driving seat of his own contract process, his own decision-making process and also, understand what’s happening in the rest of the market.

“As long as Mercedes have been managing him, why would they do that? Whereas he needs to understand, is there an option to go to Aston for 2027? Is there an option to go to Ferrari? Who knows what the Honda power unit will be like, maybe that will be the place to be, or the Audi one, or the Red Bull Ford. Could it be a straight swap?

“He’s got to take this as a bit of a warning flag that he needs to get control of his own career, own destiny and also see what the options are.”

Max Verstappen the ‘number one target for every team’

Chandhok insists Russell needs to separate his management from Mercedes to protect his own future.

“At the moment, Max Verstappen is top dog, he is the number one target for every team and I totally understand because he’s driving at an extremely high level," Chandhok said. 

“But, so is George Russell. He’s maybe not the number one pick of the F1 draft, but he is certainly one of the next four. He’s up there with the next group of drivers and his value is high, so he needs to be in control of his future.”

Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft echoed Chandhok’s concerns.

“How many years is a multi-year contract? Once again we are left in the dark on this one,” Croft said.

“Lewis Hamilton was on a multi-year contract that turned into a one, plus a one-year option, so is that George is on now as well, and is that why he is remaining tight-lipped?

“When your boss and your manager is putting an arm physically, or metaphorically, around Max Verstappen, to say ‘you could be the prodigal son that I’ve been waiting for’, you need to have control of your destiny.”