George Russell is not on Red Bull’s shortlist for the F1 2026 season despite Christian Horner’s suggestion that it would be “foolish” to overlook the Mercedes driver.
That is the claim of Helmut Marko, who says Red Bull are “focusing on our own juniors” even though Russell has proven himself “on a par, if not faster” than seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton over one lap.
Helmut Marko responds to Christian Horner’s George Russell claim
Mercedes confirmed their driver line-up for the F1 2025 season at the recent Italian Grand Prix, with teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli promoted as Ferrari-bound Hamilton’s successor.
It came after Mercedes had been heavily linked with a move for reigning three-time World Champion Max Verstappen, with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff making no secret of his desire to sign the Red Bull driver.
Despite being under contract until the end of the 2028 season, it has been suggested that Verstappen could leave Red Bull due to the team’s waning on-track performance, the loss of such key figures as Adrian Newey and the tensions between Horner and his father Jos.
Horner confirmed to media including PlanetF1.com at last month’s Dutch Grand Prix that Verstappen’s contract contains a “performance element”, which could theoretically allow him to leave Red Bull before the scheduled end of his deal.
However, he went on to outline his optimism that Verstappen will remain loyal to Red Bull for as long as the team “provide a competitive car”, insisting it is “down to us to deliver.”
With Mercedes opting against specifying the length of Antonelli’s contract, and Russell’s current deal set to expire at the end of next season, it has been suggested that the team could renew their interest in Verstappen ahead of the F1 2026 season, with their preparations for the new regulations for that year widely believed to be advanced.
Horner turned the tables at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, claiming that Red Bull could target two-time race winner Russell for F1 2026 as he nears the end of his Mercedes contract.
With uncertainty surrounding the futures of Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez, Horner suggested Red Bull could explore options beyond their own driver pool with the team keeping tabs on Russell’s situation.
He told Sky F1: “We just want to take time to consider what those options look like for the future – and we’re not afraid to go out of the pool.
“George Russell is out of contract at the end of the next year. It would be foolish not to take that into consideration.
“There are other drivers – talented drivers – that could well be out of contract as well.”
However, Marko has played down any Red Bull interest in Russell with the team preferring to grow their own in-house talent following the decision this week to replace Daniel Ricciardo, 35, with 22-year-old Liam Lawson at VCARB for the final six races of F1 2024.
Marko revealed earlier this year that Red Bull shareholders are keen to see the VCARB outfit return to its Toro Rosso roots as a team to train young drivers, with a renewed emphasis on bringing through the likes of Lawson and Isack Hadjar, currently second in the F2 standings.
Marko told the Latin-American branch of Motorsport.com: ‘George Russell is on a par with Hamilton in qualifying, if not faster.
“But George Russell is linked to Mercedes-Benz and now, I think, we are focusing on our juniors.”
Marko went on to stress the need to hand opportunities to young drivers, citing the emergence of Williams driver Franco Colapinto, who has impressed since replacing Logan Sargeant despite a mediocre record in the junior categories, and Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman, who will race for Haas from F1 2025.
However, Marko ruled out a move for Colapinto as the Argentine is under “a long-term contract” at Williams, who will field Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz in F1 2025.
He said: “We see it with Colapinto, for example, as a relatively inexperienced and not very successful man in the junior series – although it has to be said he never had the best equipment – but what an incredible performance he is having now.
“And now let’s see what our juniors, or even a Yuki Tsunoda, can do. He can also be described as a junior, but how does he compare to Lawson?
“I think [Colapinto] has a long-term contract with Williams and is definitely someone for the future. What he showed in Baku and Singapore was very, very good, but I put him as an example.
“You can also cite the case of [Oliver] Bearman in that Formula 2 juniors have the potential to perform in Formula 1, that you couldn’t always rely only, as it was in the past, on drivers who already had five or three years of experience.”
Marko’s comments come after 2016 World Champion and former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg claimed Horner’s comments amounted to “a knife thrown” in the direction of Wolff, increasing the pressure on Mercedes to tie Russell to a new deal.
He told Sky F1: “It’s politics and strategy, because he wants to unsettle Toto.
“And if Toto suddenly hears Horner talking about Russell and Russell doesn’t have a contract, Toto might be thinking: ‘Oh, damn, should I be trying to get an option on George or what?’
“And it’s unsettling, so it’s always part of the game.
“That was a bit of a knife thrown towards Toto there, I felt, because it obviously puts the pressure on Toto to make a decision.
“George doesn’t have a contract [for 2026] and so Christian could be really naughty and just try and really to snatch him away from there and try and lock him in through contact already now.
“I don’t know if George would even be interested, but a comment like that does add the pressure for Toto.”
