Wolff's Mercedes Strategy: Russell & Antonelli Duel for Future Seat
Sep.1 - 2025 could be shaping up as a 'shootout' for a single race seat at Mercedes between incumbent George Russell and his new rookie teammate, Kimi Antonelli.
This year has been awkward for team boss Toto Wolff, who finally officially confirmed on Saturday that Antonelli is replacing the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton next year.
But while the 18-year-old Italian is Wolff's long-term protege, he is only being guaranteed a single season - 2025 - in a silver car.
Why? Because Wolff is keeping a race seat potentially open to Max Verstappen for 2026.
Like Antonelli, Russell's current contract runs out at the end of 2025 as well. "All of our focus in the team is on George and Kimi," Wolff insisted at Monza.
"There is no discussion, no doubt, about what we are doing for 2026, because we are talking about 2024 and 2025. If we start flirting with another driver, the drivers in our team will know about it first because I always advocate openness with my employees."
Wolff appears to be walking both sides of the street - pledging focus and loyalty to Russell and Antonelli, but also clearly eyeing Verstappen for 2026.
He admits Antonelli and Russell are only contracted for 2025.
"We always have very short contracts because it's a pressure vessel," said the Austrian. "Merciless performance is expected," he told ORF. "I hope this is our lineup for many years.
"I'm 100 percent happy with the two of them."
Former F1 driver Robert Doornbos doesn't buy it. "What Kimi has to realise, and George too, is that they are going to have a shootout with each other. Because in 2026 there has to be a seat available for Max," he told Ziggo Sport.
Wolff's message to his 2025 drivers, however, is that they don't need to stress.
"These two drivers are the future," he said. "They are Mercedes drivers and they will remain so, which is why we have signed long-term contracts with both of them.
"It gets complicated when it comes to options and so on, so there is obviously pressure on them, but at Mercedes it has always been the case that there is high pressure. But right now we as a team want to rely on these two drivers.
"With Lewis we recently had an agreement for one year plus a further one year as an option, but the most important thing now is that we see how George and Kimi are doing, and at the moment I see no reason not to give them the confidence to move forward together.
"We will clarify between ourselves what this means for the contract terms," Wolff added. "But we would not have made this choice of drivers if we were not absolutely convinced that they were the best choice for Mercedes."
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