Nico Rosberg reveals how Christian Horner 'unsettled' Toto Wolff and may force him to act
Christian Horner has been accused of playing mind games with Toto Wolff.
Nico Rosberg, 2016 world champion, believes that Christian Horner’s pursuit of George Russell was a tactic to “unsettle” his fellow team principal Toto Wolff at Mercedes.
Amid rising pressure on Sergio Perez, sat eighth in the Drivers' Championship with less than half of the points of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, Horner curiously namedropped Russell as a potential replacement.
“We’re not afraid to go out of the pool,” Horner admitted. "George Russell is out of contract at the end of next year. It would be foolish not to take that into consideration.”
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Russell is expected to be handed the Silver Arrows reigns next year as lead driver, following Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari and Andrea Kimi Antonelli's promotion from Formula Two as his replacement.
Russell signed a new contract at Mercedes in 2023, keeping him with the team until the end of the 2025 season, and there has been little talk over extending his stay with the team.
Despite the likes of Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa all under the Red Bull umbrella as potential Perez replacements, Horner appears willing to go after the likes of Russell in order to pair Verstappen with the strongest possible team-mate.
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But Rosberg, who worked closely with Wolff during their four years together at Mercedes, believes that Horner was only trying to “unsettle” the man in charge of negotiating Russell’s future.
“It’s also policy and strategy because he wants to unsettle Toto,” Rosberg told Sky Sports. “If Toto suddenly hears Horner talking about Russell, and Russell doesn’t have a contract, Toto might think ‘Should I try to get an option on George?’ It is unsettling. It is part of the game.”
Those comments were similarly echoed by Wolff, who replied “Christian is always trying to stir the s*** up” when asked about Horner’s public pursuit of Russell, adding that he hopes the Brit remains a Mercedes driver for the remainder of his career.
However, Horner’s admission does still add further fuel to the fire surrounding Perez and whether he has a future at Red Bull.
Lawson has been given the final six races of the season with sister team VCARB and if he impresses, would be a contender to partner Verstappen in 2025, as W Series star Jamie Chadwick told Rosberg that namedropping Russell is unlikely to benefit the Mexican driver.
“The fact he brought George’s name into the mix shows he isn’t fully confident in his four drivers, which makes sense,” Chadwick added. “Checo needs to step it up. They are going to lose the constructors’ championship because of their second driver.
“They will put Liam Lawson in the [RB] car and see if he’s ready for the big seat. Or look inside, or outside, of their talent pool for other drivers.”
