Russell reckons both career achievements and current plight play into Verstappen quit threat

George Russell says he can understand if Max Verstappen takes a break from Formula 1 while he’s not enjoying it, but believes competitive position is playing a significant role in his complaints.

Verstappen openly stated after the Japanese Grand Prix that he was considering leaving F1 at the end of the season, as he currently questions whether it’s worth the required level of commitment as he dislikes the 2026 regulations. The subsequent announcement that his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will be leaving for McLaren at the end of next year further adds to the speculation over Verstappen’s future, and Russell says he understands why the four-time world champion may now have different targets.

“Formula 1 is bigger than any driver,” Russell said. “You wouldn't want to lose Max, because I think we all enjoy racing against Max.

“It's just part and parcel of Formula 1. I didn't enjoy driving the ’22 car when it was porpoising up and down, killing everybody's backs. The car was big, it was heavy. The high-speed corners, it wasn't very pleasant to drive around. But he didn't have the same complaint because he was winning.

“Now, the complaints that he has currently are different to the complaints of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, because we're at the front end of the grid. This is only natural and you do understand and recognize the frustration. But he's achieved what most drivers dream of, which is winning a championship. He's got four of them. And at the end of the day, I guess you get to a point in life that there's not really much more for him to achieve in Formula 1.

“He's ticked all the boxes. Maybe he can go after the records. But knowing him as I do, and knowing drivers who have won or achieved similar things, at one point you want to do what puts a smile on your face.

“I can totally understand why driving the Nordschleife puts a smile on his face. I've driven hundreds of laps around the Nordschleife on the simulator, and I would love to have that chance to go and race around the Nordschleife. But my goal now is to become a Formula 1 world champion. If I have four of them under my belt, I'd probably be doing the same.

“So, he's in a very different stage of his career. And I think you'd understand if he stayed and you'd understand if he went.”

Russell expects to be extending his own stay at Mercedes as a result of hitting performance-related targets this season, as the team has delivered the dominant car in the early stages.

“Pretty much, you hit the metrics and you move on," he said. "So I will be here next year with the team and that's that. There's not really much more to say. It's a multi-year deal. It's numerous years. And as we said last year, and often in a lot of these contracts, even if metrics aren't hit, if things are happy then you continue. But as I said, metrics will very likely be hit.”