Russell's real feelings over stalled F1 contract: what you missed at the Austrian GP

F1

You had to read between the lines at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix as George Russell dropped hints over about his dissatisfaction, and F1 sent a message to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem

George Russell wearing shiny silver coat and sunglasses in the 2035 F1 Austrian GP drivers parade

Russell's contract comments appeared to mark a new tactic in negotiations with Mercedes

Mark Sutton/F1 via Getty Images

Author

Chris Medland

George Russell took the lead when it came to the narrative in the paddock over the weekend at the Red Bull Ring, but it won’t be the last storyline to come out of the Austrian Grand Prix given the huge new deal that was announced on Sunday morning.

 

Russell’s playing the game

If you read the column after Canada, there was a section on Russell’s contractual situation and how it can be tricky to position him in terms of the numbers you might end up putting on his next deal.

And while Russell has previously spoken about his comfort with the current state of limbo, this weekend he started using the media to drop hints that he perhaps isn’t quite so happy with being made to wait on Mercedes’ overtures towards Max Verstappen.

It was in an interview with Sky Sports that he responded to the question “Why haven’t you got a contract yet?!” with “I think you’re asking the wrong person to be honest!”

As he expanded on his situation, Russell admitted he doesn’t know why he doesn’t have one in place yet, but then took the opportunity to once again reference his understanding of the interest in Verstappen. Only this time, Russell went beyond his comments from Montreal, and said that Mercedes conversations with Verstappen “are ongoing”.

Toto Wolff leans against wall and looks stern at 2024 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Wolff’s driver discussions have been pushed out into the open

Grand Prix Photo

The timing was clever from Russell, with Toto Wolff in the team principal press conference the following day, and inevitably facing multiple questions about his interest in Verstappen as a result. Wolff insisted he was not unhappy at all about Russell’s comments, and didn’t firmly deny talks, saying he isn’t flirting with Verstappen but having conversations is a different matter to flirting.

Heading into a home race he could have a shot at winning, Russell drew further attention to the situation and will get a clearer understanding of who within the team would rather keep the current line-up, or if there’s full support to pursue Verstappen and risk losing the current team leader.

 

F1’s long-term approach to the calendar

Sunday morning saw the confirmation of a new race hosting contract for the Austrian Grand Prix, keeping the event on the calendar until 2041.

If that date – far in the future though it is – feels familiar to you, that’s because it’s the same year that the Miami Grand Prix’s new contract also expires.

Red Bull F1 car drives past Austrian GP sign

This hashtag won’t date until at least 2041, thanks to a new long-term deal for the Red Bull Ring

Grand Prix Photo

It’s a sign of how Formula 1 is approaching specific events on the calendar, despite the uncertainty surrounding other races. These contracts do have clauses and fee escalators that address inflation and future situations, but they also allow venues to invest in infrastructure or facilities with more certainty.

That is partly a byproduct of F1’s desire to be more of a partner to its race promoters, having recently taken on the role itself in Las Vegas and felt first-hand what the costs and challenges are. It also is an approach that guarantees a certain level of income, that helps with Liberty Media’s projections and plans, and it also has a knock-on effect on other races on the calendar.

The more events that are locked in long-term, the more of a premium there becomes on the slots that become available. Plus, existing races that need to make improvements are left in no doubt that the commitment needs to be made on both sides. Where that’s not possible, rotation is an option, as shown with the latest deal for Spa-Francorchamps.

 

The impact of tight schedules

After some heavy storms in Styria on Thursday, the weather might have played ball for the rest of the weekend, but on-track matters weren’t always quite as friendly for the race organisers.

I’ve always been an advocate of the more racing the better during an F1 weekend, with fans paying a lot of money to come to a race track, and deserving live action before their eyes as much as possible. I remember heading to the Spanish Grand Prix as a fan in 2010 and wanting to lap up every second of every race because of the battles you could see, with now-Formula E veteran Sam Bird delivering with a number of overtaking moves in the GP2 race.

But Austria showed just how hard it can be to pull off, and why big gaps are sometimes left between sessions that then prevent other races being added to the schedule.

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In Saturday’s Formula 2 sprint race, a scary incident on the second lap saw Trident driver Sami Meguetounif launched into the air after tyre-on-tyre contact with Arvid Lindblad at Turn 3, barrel rolling over Luke Browning’s car before coming to rest upside down in the middle of the track. The clean-up job was a big one and a red flag thrown, but the race ran clean when it restarted and there were 40 seconds left on the clock when the penultimate lap began.

That meant the race went the full distance, but then on the final lap, four cars were caught in an incident at Turn 3 again after Amaury Cordeel spun, leading to a challenging situation to untangle. Given how late in the race window this had happened, it ultimately led to a short delay starting F1 qualifying.

Then on Sunday morning, the F2 feature race saw another late crash – again at Turn 3 and again involving Lindblad – but the ensuing delay came from a knock-on incident. A recovery truck taking one of the damaged cars away hit an advertising structure across the track and brought it crashing down, leading to another major clear-up operation and another delay to the following event – this time the Porsche Supercup race that had to be squeezed into a 17-minute sprint.

It was a number of unusual occurrences that added up, but it shows they can happen, and why contingency has to be built into the schedule. With F1 adding F4 to the race program this coming weekend at Silverstone, don’t underestimate the commitment and execution required to fit in multiple races both safely and fairly in a sporting sense.

 

Optics at dinner

A dinner might not seem like the most significant occasion of a race weekend, but there was one that sent out a particular message on Thursday evening.

Just one day after Carlos Sainz Sr announced he would not be running for FIA president in this year’s elections, the FIA made the Driving Standards Guidelines and the Penalty Guidelines publicly available, in an attempt to improve transparency in decision-making.

A few drivers suggested the reasoning seemed strange, as these guidelines were not hidden from them or their teams, and and felt it could have been an obvious ploy from Mohammed Ben Sulayem to improve optics around his presidency having seen one challenger fall by the wayside.

But if that was deemed obvious, even more so was what followed when 19 of the 20 drivers joined F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali for dinner in the paddock. Lance Stroll was the only absentee, but there was also GPDA representation and an image was soon posted on social media, as well as video clips later in the weekend.

It was a clear display of the relationship between Domenicali and the current drivers, in contrast to the difficult one that many have had with the FIA in recent years. It wasn’t subtle, and I doubt it will have gone unnoticed by Ben Sulayem.

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