Toto Wolff gets advice from F1 supremo on dropping Russell or Antonelli for Max Verstappen
EXCLUSIVE: Toto Wolff is facing a difficult conundrum with his 2026 driver line-up.
Guenther Steiner believes that Toto Wolff’s driver dilemma for the 2026 season is a ‘good problem to have’, but that the Mercedes team principal might need to be ruthless with George Russell or Kimi Antonelli.
Mercedes confirmed Antonelli’s signing after the Italian Grand Prix with the teenager tied down only through 2025. Russell’s contract situation is the same with his extension only keeping him with the team until the end of next season.
With both drivers out of contract and Wolff still keen on bringing Max Verstappen to Brackley as Red Bull’s trajectory continues to cause concern, he may have to make a brutally tough decision and let one of the star graduates of the Mercedes academy go at the end of 2025.
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“You need to see the glass half full here! It’s a good position,” Steiner told Express Sport when asked for his insight on Wolff’s tricky choice. “It will be a tough decision to make, but it’s a good decision.
“You have a choice, you know, and have got now a year where you can test out Kimi Antonelli, how he compares to George, and we know how good Max is. So it depends a little bit on how they do, and in the end, he can make a decision what he does.
“Obviously, they put a lot into George and his development, but now George has a few years at Mercedes, so if you have to let him go, you have to let him go. Same with Kimi. They put a lot into it.
“But if he’s not up to it, it’s better to let him go now (in 2025) than after three years of unsuccessful seasons. So I think he’s in a very good position. Maybe not a nice position but for the team, you cannot have any better. You have the pick of the litter.”
For now, Verstappen remains a Red Bull driver and after the race in Singapore, Wolff admitted that the time was right to stop publicly courting the 27-year-old. “We're sitting back,” he told Autosport. “I think I've expressed it before, and we have a similar view also from Max's side: you've got to put faith in your drivers or in your team.
“You need to give it the maximum support you can to make it a success. And only if things go really wrong, you will consider other opportunities. For me, it's like flirting outside whilst you're making your relationship work.
“It doesn't work, I'm not flirting outside. Only if I want to have a change, or consider a change, I would seek a conversation. And it is the same on his side. We're pretty aligned in our values on that I think.”
