Mercedes will continue with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli as their drivers in Formula 1 in 2026, team principal Toto Wolff has said.
Wolff effectively confirmed the line-up after the Dutch Grand Prix, although Russell’s contract is still not finalised.
Wolff said: “I always say there’s not going to be any big news because we’re doing this. We’re continuing with both of them, of course.
“With George there’s a few things where we want to optimise some of the travelling and the marketing days, how many hours we’re putting in. He’s an experienced driver and for us it’s always important to talk about it.”
There had been little doubt that Mercedes would retain both drivers after Max Verstappen confirmed at the Hungarian Grand Prix in early August that he was staying at Red Bull.
Mercedes were interested in Verstappen and had been putting off talks with Briton Russell until they knew for certain that the four-time world champion was not available.
It remains to be seen how long Russell’s contract will be, and Wolff said that the team were reconsidering what they asked of their drivers off track.
“We want to have the best performance of the drivers and I think we’ve given both of them quite a strain with marketing activities and media activities and this is how we’re recalibrating,” he said.
He added that he did not expect there to be an imminent formal statement of their 2026 driver line-up.
“Is there going to be an announcement (this coming weekend) in Monza? No,” Wolff said. “But I don’t think it’s going to be even a big announcement. It’s just going to give you the heads up and say we’ve put a signature on the agreement.”
Wolf has ‘100% belief’ in Antonelli
Russell had already said at the start of the Dutch weekend that there was no doubt he would be staying at Mercedes.
He said: “We wanted to take the summer off to relax and reset, but positively moving in the right direction. But I think as there is no time pressure from the team side and no time pressure from our side, we’re just ensuring it’s done properly.”
Rookie Antonelli had another difficult weekend at Zandvoort, earning a penalty for crashing out of the race with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. He finished 16th after being given an additional penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
But Wolff said he had no doubt about the 19-year-old Italian’s potential.
“When we gave him the opportunity, it was also saying that we would give him a year of learning, and there would be moments where we’d tear our hair out, and there would be other moments of brilliance. And I think this weekend pretty much sums that up,” Wolff said.
“My 100% belief is in him in the long term and that is just part of the learning.”
By BBC Sports
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