George Russell Declares Signing with Mercedes Will Be a ‘Lose-Lose’ Situation for Max Verstappen

George Russell recently achieved his contract extension with Mercedes after many months of uncertainty. The Briton was rumored to be snubbed from the team to make way for Max Verstappen as soon as the 2026 season.

However, following Russell’s extension, Verstappen is likely not to join the team so soon. Now, the Silver Arrow made a shocking claim that joining Brackley would not be a good move for the reigning world champion.

Max Verstappen was rumored to be in advanced talks with Mercedes to join the team for the 2026 season onwards. Because of this, George Russell‘s contract extension was delayed a lot, with the final decision only arriving in the final months of this year. Although the Briton reckoned that his current deal was much better and had a ‘Verstappen protection’ clause, anything can happen in the coming seasons.

Shockingly, George Russell believed that Max Verstappen joining Mercedes and pairing with the former would be worse than people anticipated. The Dutchman would have more to lose at the German carmaker, more so if he failed to match up to the expectations. Russell reckoned that Verstappen would face a lose-lose situation at Brackley, much like Lewis Hamilton did against him back then.

George Russell reckoned that Max Verstappen was expected to beat the former, and it wouldn’t be so surprising. However, if the Dutchman failed to meet expectations and lost out to Russell, it would look very bad on him.

The Briton added that it was the same with him and Kimi Antonelli now, where he losing to the rookie would look very bad. Regardless, the 27-year-old accepted that he was talking about a massive hypothetical, which likely wouldn’t come true in the near future.

I don’t see why he wouldn’t… I mean, it’s obviously more of a lose-lose situation for him, The same as when I was team-mates with Lewis. If he beat me, he was expected to. But if he lost to me, yeah, it’s seen as a big loss. Or the same with me and Kimi now. But I mean, we’re getting well ahead of ourselves here…

George Russell said via The Telegraph.

George Russell claims his relationship with Max Verstappen ‘doesn’t bother him’

Max Verstappen and George Russell aren’t the best of friends when it comes to racing on the grid. Both of them have said some questionable things about one another in the past. As such, now, amid the Mercedes rumors, the friendship definitely did not improve. However, Russell is unfazed by this and claims that he did not lose sleep over the matter.