Why Red Bull’s interest in George Russell is serious
Mercedes has been openly flirting with stealing Red Bull’s star Formula 1 driver all year – and now Red Bull’s started to return the favour with George Russell.
Christian Horner’s given a very strong hint that George Russell could become a serious target for Red Bull to sign for 2026.
Red Bull may need to plug some gaps in its line-ups after years of pretty chronic failure with its young driver programme, so is willing to look outside its own driver pool – and Horner says it would be “foolish” not to consider Russell, who is out of contract at the end of next year.
Our latest video explains why it makes more sense than you might think.
0:00 Red Bull’s new driver target
1:29 Mercedes’ plans
3:35 Red Bull’s mess
5:59 Verstappen Plan B essential
7:49 A ready-made lead driver
Subscribe: http://the-race.com/youtube_subscribe
Website: http://the-race.com/
Twitter: @wearetherace
Instagram: @wearetherace
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wearetherace
Podcasts: http://the-race.com/podcasts
Thanks for watching – please like, share and comment, please also hit subscribe to show your support so we’ll keep doing what we’re doing.
https://www.the-race.com
Tweets by wearetherace
#F1 #f12024 #f12024news #f1news #f12025 #f12026 #georgerussell #russell #mercedes #redbull #redbullrussell #horner #christianhorner #wolff #totowolff #verstappen #maxverstappen
50 Comments
The only way Russell goes to Red Bull is if Mercedes gets Verstappen. It shows me that Horner thinks Verstappen is leaving to Mercedes.
There is no way in hell Max let's Russell be his teammate if he stays.
Coming here after Red Bull lost their Chief Strategy Officer to McLaren 🤰🤡
Russel is a much better second driver than Perez.
bro won enough and is going for side quests now
I presume it will be to replace Perez. He isn’t a number 1 driver
Russell is about to start mewing and posing for toto to be relevant in 2026
I doubt Russell wants to be a number 2 driver.
Russell waited 3 years to join Dominating Mercedes Team and it became s**t after him joining
Imagine his reaction joining RedBull which is already getting imploded and Mercedes become dominant again 😂😂
Another day another rumour. How many is that now? Even D R retiring hasn’t even been confirmed. I think this year will go down as the biggest year for b s. Journalist asks Toto have you heard Charles leclerc contract is up in 2026. Next video will be Leclerc to Mercedes in 2026? Come on…
Seems very odd. Surely Mercedes would want the best drivers, so Antonelli will be out the door before Russell. He's just a kid, get rid.
Why would he leave Mercedes? They're back on the up while Red Bull is falling apart.
Probably an unusual view.. but to my reading.. Russel joining red bull would improve his personal brand immensely rather than being associated with the Mercedes stooges.
"Russell is a world championship challenger" I stopped watching right there. C'mon The Race, be serious 😅
Well MB keep trying to mess with RB with keep flirting with Max, it is RB in return now. Both never serious about it
You guys are running out of things to cover. This could’ve been a 3 minute video
You guys are clowns. First, Russell was going to be the next big thing. Of course didn’t happen (he is prone to crash and not really that talented). Now it’s Verstappen plan B 🙄. Same with Norris (another overrated pilot). No wonder Brexit happened 🤣🤣🤣
I have been saying this for a while.
George Russell should sign a pre-contract agreement with Red Bull that if Mercedes sign Verstappen then he will go to Red Bull.
Max keeps on acting like a teenager being told off. Red Bull and F1 need to get a pair. Drivers need a team, they need to get over themselves and Team Principal need to plan.
When I first heard Mercedes even interested in Max I thought thats a horrible idea he and George do not get along on track. The more I thought about it though George is the perfect teammate for Max if you look at his history with teammates. Max has never played well with his teammates and they only encourage him to do better.
Having Russell on a Red Bull is a 💀 we know what he can do during his rookie season in Williams
It’s all about the money, everyone in this sport are greedy narcissists, that’s it.
Ricciardo may be staying due to CashAp and Visa Sponsorship which highlights the futility of predicting who should go where based soley on the perceived talent of one driver over another.
Hadjar coming into play by 2026 could tempt red bull to pull a verstappen like young driver gamble
Chaulk that up as another one of Horner's bad decisions…. Russell is extremely overrated
Toto is hating himself missing Max so he is fantasing Kimi as next Max and he doesnt give a shit about Russell.
Downgrade 1000%
Red bull need to get rid of checo.
Red Bull's interest in George Russell is silly because Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, and Alex Albon are all way better drivers than osama gerorge
9:07 Hola, Carlos is still around, since his contract with Williams have walk away clause.
Is there any provision that allows driver to switch team before the contract ends. If max has a contract till 2028 then why is Mercedes chasing him?
If someone can clarify please. Thanks.
Russell would be a perfect fit at Red Bull, because they need someone who's a good driver, but not so good that they're a threat to Max, Russell ticks that box. If I was Russell, I would just stay at Mercedes, because if he moves to Red Bull and has a couple of bad seasons they will just ditch him for another driver, that could be the end of his career. That's the big downside of driving for Red Bull, they aren't affraid to f**k someone off if they're not performing well.
So what Carlos is too much of a risk but George is A ok?!
The new kid, Kimi will expose this guy next year. He will be the next Bottas when Kimi comes over.
I wouldn't call their development program a failure… they just ended up with Max as a benchmark. 4 drivers they brought up are doing well.. many more outside of f1
Toto (after stirring the shit all season from before season starts) "I think Horner just likes to stir the shit."
Toto: "What's that you say George? Negotiate a deal with Horner for you for 2026? Certainly George. You know that my position as your Manager means that my utmost concern is to promote your career to get the greatest potential contracts for you. Horner you say?"
Mercedes would sign Verstappen and drop Russell like a hot potato, if the chance occurred – and they should. Just like Ferrari dumping the excellent Sainz for a chance at Hamilton. There are three drivers on the grid that are in another league from everyone else – Max, Lewis, and Fernando, the currently active world champions.
This isn't a serious thought. Horner is just spinning a story. If he was serious, Carlos Sainz wouldn't have been an easy turn down.
Christian Horner is actually a genius lol
I mean, this possibility is possible😂
With Merc forgetting what an upgrade is and considering George's capability, he can race with Max, keep up or get ahead of Max. It's a matter of what RBR can offer and their developments for 2025 and new regs
W T F . Danny Ric is the under dog
Fact of the matter is, Toto would rather have Russell off the board than in Red Bull. However, I would be surprised if any other team does not show interest in him.
People keep saying it (and saying it wrongly) "Red Bull's young driver program has failed!" No it hasn't. They've just had to let Ricciardo go as they had too many drivers for their 4 seats! That discounts Hajar and others coming through… Vettel, Ricciardo, Vergne (twice FE champion), Buemi (FE x 1), Verstappen, Sainz, Albon, Tsunoda and Lawson. 7 world championships, the driver of his generation (Verstappen – remember his zero inch mastery over inch perfect Alonso last year in Monaco)! 2 FE champions, at least. WEC drivers. Some will get into Indy Car. What other program has produced so many top line drivers, many of whom are still on the F1 grid?
No, the problem is not Red Bull's young driver program, it's Verstappen's speed, adaptability and, perhaps, car handling preference. Swapping Verstappen for Kvyat was the right call. Gasly struggled, then Albon did too. Even the established Ricciardo jumped ship because of going up against Max. Then, Perez has struggled too often as well. But, I think they should ask, do they really want someone to 'go up against' Max as be as fast? That could cause worse problems. Maybe they should just decide it's a number 2 position and sign the one who is up for it?
Horner looks like he couldn’t run a hot dog stand these days, don’t know what kind of threat he really poses for poaching anyone
Lando will go. Next year Piastri will be No1. LeClerc Vettel vibes.
Frankly ridiculous that Red Bull missed out on Sainz and have stuck with Perez at the main team – the latter is going to lose them the constructors championship.
They could have dropped Perez now, put Ricciardo in the main team (he would likely have been better than Perez) with Sainz lined up for the No.2 in 2025 and still allowing Lawson into VCarb for the rest of 2025/into 2026.
Redbull does not hire Flamers.
Where the hell did they get that footage of George Russell standing up ominously with the blue lightbars lmao