Russell strengthens hand in Mercedes F1 contract talks - What you missed at the Canadian GP

Away from the fireworks on the front row, there was a fair bit to talk about when it came to driver futures over the Montreal weekend, while the F1 movie focus grew even further before a number of drivers made the trip to New York for the premiere.

Russell’s contract situation

George Russell has been impressive at Mercedes, but admitted himself that he understands why Max Verstappen is always going to be on the team’s radar as a potential future driver given his status as “one of the GOATs”.

That said, the complexity surrounding talks over Russell’s future — that have yet to really take off according to the driver himself — is not related to his performance. On that front, Mercedes knows exactly what it gets, and that he is a quality option who has nothing to prove.

The tricky part is how highly do you value him? Russell has just four race wins to his name despite his very impressive victory in Canada, putting him behind Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris — and level with Carlos Sainz — on the list of winners on the current grid.

Yet Mercedes knows that stat is largely down to the machinery it has given Russell so far, and that he could well have the status of a world champion if it had been dominating as it did prior to 2021. If the 2026 car is as competitive as expected, that chance could come next year, as well.

So working out how much to pay a driver based on hypotheticals can be challenging, with Russell able to point at his record against Hamilton as team-mates. But Mercedes partners are likely to have valued Hamilton’s standing well above Russell’s. So landing on a number in the middle is not always the most simple task.

While the impression has been that Russell would sign a new deal as soon as possible, it also serves him not to rush because the more wins he secures and the better results he gets before reaching an agreement will only strengthen his own hand, too.

Albon’s enjoying the Williams ride

Speaking of drivers and their futures, Alexander Albon has been in impressive form for Williams this season, taking advantage of a far more consistently competitive car to pick up points in seven of the first 10 races.

He’s also made the most of having an extremely highly-rated team-mate in the form of Carlos Sainz alongside him, enhancing his own reputation with a string of strong performances that leave him comfortably ahead of Sainz in the standings at this stage.

On one hand, that could be seen as Albon making himself a more attractive proposition for a front-running team in future, but the 29-year-old is looking at it another way. The direction of travel at Williams convinces him it will become a front-running team itself – more likely in 2027 than 2026 – and having been part of the development since 2022, he wants to stay put to see the fruits of that labour.

Albon is signed up with Williams until at least the end of 2026 as it stands, but given his form and his desire to remain where he is, at some stage team principal James Vowles would be wise to try and lock him in beyond that point.

F1 movie awareness

The world premiere of the F1 movie will take place this evening — if you’re reading this on Monday — in New York City, and the media got a preview screening on Thursday evening in Montreal.

Alongside that, director Joseph Kosinski and executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer were part of a press conference on Friday to discuss the film and it’s expectations, outlining where they feel it can have the greatest impact.

The film is clearly not aimed at existing F1 fans, though there are some Easter eggs in there and great nods to the sport’s history, and that means it is likely to divide opinion in quite an extreme way among those who are already well-versed in the sport. But the target market is similar to Drive to Survive, with the United States in particular seen as a massive growth area.

While F1 enjoys much greater global awareness than in the past, Kosinski says in America the percentage of people who went to pre-screenings of the film with at least some knowledge of what F1 is was just 16%, compared to 50% in the United Kingdom. In a very sport-centric country of over 340 million people, that still represents a major opportunity for the sport.

At another screening, Bruckheimer stated there was just one person who had previously watched a race before seeing the film, but after the showing all 20 in the room raised their hands when asked if they now wanted to watch one.

From the filmmaker’s point of view, success will be judged through the lens of box office takings. From F1’s, it’s going to be just how many new people are moved to check the sport out for themselves as a result.

Kimi’s got exams

Speaking of the F1 movie premiere, there are a number of drivers who have decided against attending, having already seen the film in Monaco and done promotional work.

Antonelli is still a studen

It’s understandable in the middle of a 24-race season that also kicked off with F1 75 Live — as additional duties that are not contractual obligations — that others might have prior commitments they won’t move.

One of those who definitely have that excuse and won’t be attending is Kimi Antonelli. The reason? He’s got exams to sit back home in Bologna.

It’s a stark reminder of how young he still is, and just how impressive his first podium result in Formula 1 is at this stage of his career.

The Indy anger dies down a little

In the post-Spain entry, I flagged up the likelihood of the Canadian Grand Prix directly clashing with the Indianapolis 500 next year, and that was confirmed when the new F1 calendar was announced at the start of the week.

Heading to North America, there was plenty of frustration among fans and commentators on this side of the pond, with some calling the sport arrogant for arranging a clash, and ruining the previous run of Monaco – Indy 500 – Coca-Cola 600 that made for such a special Sunday at the end of May.

But when the reasoning for the move was explained, allowing a large amount of freight to stay in North America between Miami and Montreal, there was a better understanding of the reasoning for the swap. Even so, the exact date was still a problem.

F1 and the race organisers both point out the climate in May in Canada that makes an earlier race weekend ever more risky, but the bigger problem is the preparation and set-up work that needs doing for many weeks and even months in advance. The promoter will need to start some work in the autumn before the weather turns too severe and prevents further progress, before continuing in the spring.

The latest update that really quelled the dissent, though, was the insistence that the clash would only happen once every four or five years. There’s slight uncertainty given how the calendars are confirmed each year, but it will be a positive move if a direct clash can be avoided in order to maximise the potential audiences for both races.