George Russell signs on with Mercedes — and he’s done waiting: “I’m ready to be champion”
At long last, the paperwork is out of the way. George Russell has inked a new multi-year deal with Mercedes, locking down his future just as the team resets for F1’s next big rules upheaval in 2026. The announcement landed on the eve of the United States Grand Prix, alongside news that teammate Kimi Antonelli will also stay put — a clean, decisive line-up call from Brackley after a summer of noise.
It’s no secret the road here had a few potholes. Toto Wolff’s mid-season flirtation with Max Verstappen turned headlines into soap opera, and Russell’s extension dragged longer than anyone expected. But the driver himself never blinked. In a candid piece for The Players’ Tribune, Russell stripped it back to brass tacks: he doesn’t obsess over contracts because, in his words, F1 is “transactional… a team hires a driver to be fast.”
That single‑mindedness is both his edge and, he admits, occasionally a PR problem. “I think that’s why sometimes I feel like my personality is a little misunderstood,” he wrote. “Because I’m so focused on that part of it. Being fast. Everything else is just noise to me. I just want to perform.” Then the kicker: “I am prepared for what is to come. I am ready to be champion.”
It reads like a mission statement from a driver who’s grown up in the Mercedes system. Russell’s been part of the Silver Arrows fold for nearly a decade, shaped by time around Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff, and those habits — the relentless self‑audit, the obsession with details — are clearly ingrained. The timing isn’t bad, either. He arrives in Austin fresh from a victory in Singapore, targeting a strong run‑in to close out 2025 before the sport’s chassis and engine overhaul arrives next year.
That reset, with its lighter cars and new power unit split, is exactly the kind of horizon that tends to energise Mercedes. Russell knows it. He wants to be the driver who leads the team into the new era, not just the guy who cashes points when the opportunity falls. The language he used — “win a championship, then win another and another” — carries a touch of the old Brackley swagger, back when the silver machine rolled downhill and everyone else tried to dig in their heels.
In the short term, there’s still business to finish. Heading into the United States Grand Prix, Russell sits fourth in the Drivers’ standings, 36 points behind Max Verstappen. That’s familiar territory for a hunter rather than the hunted, but the Singapore win felt like a statement of execution as much as pace. Mercedes has been guilty of leaving results on the table across the turbo-hybrid twilight; Russell, more than anyone, has sounded impatient with that waste.
What this deal does is stop the speculation and sharpen the edges. No more “what if” conversations on the Thursday media rounds. No more parsing body language in the hospitality unit. It’s Russell and Antonelli in black overalls, with a factory that believes it’s one regulation swing away from getting back on top. And a driver who doesn’t mind saying the quiet part out loud.
There’s something refreshing in Russell’s tone here. No brand‑safe platitudes. No vague talk of “journeys.” He knows exactly why he’s in that seat and what it will take to keep it. Perform, or someone else will. It’s a ruthlessly honest read on modern Formula 1 — and precisely the mindset you want from the person leading your Sundays.
Six races to go. One eye on 2026. And a simple, slightly ominous promise from the guy with the pen still drying: ready to be champion.
