George Russell isn’t pretending he and Max Verstappen are mates. Nobody in the paddock has forgotten the bitter end to 2024, when Verstappen accused Russell of playing things up to trigger a penalty in Qatar and Russell fired back a week later in Abu Dhabi with that “borderline violence” line that still gets recycled any time the pair share a frame.
And yet, in 2026, Russell is the one saying the quiet part out loud: if there’s a chance to line up alongside Verstappen one day — in a top F1 team or even sharing a seat in a 24-hour race — he’d take it.
“Never say never,” Russell said when the question was put to him, making it clear he wasn’t limiting the idea to Formula 1. “Max is obviously one of the best… I’m up for it and would relish the opportunity to always go against the best.”
That’s not just a driver doing the usual “I’ll race anyone” routine. In the current market, this is a live political grenade. Verstappen’s name has hovered around Mercedes before, and it’s hovering again after Toto Wolff was seen talking to Jos Verstappen in Canada — the kind of paddock snapshot that never stays a snapshot for long. Mercedes, for its part, has already locked down Russell and Kimi Antonelli through extensions, with Antonelli currently running away with the 2026 championship lead. But contracts are only ever completely solid until they aren’t.
Russell’s own situation carries the sort of fine print that keeps speculation warm even in a dominant year. He’s believed to be on a one-plus-one arrangement, with 2027 hinging on performance targets. When asked earlier this season, Russell sounded relaxed about it, insisting he was “very likely” to hit what he needed to hit — a confidence that tracks with Mercedes’ early-season form.
So why pour fuel on the idea of teaming with Verstappen at all, given their history? Because elite drivers don’t think like fans do. Russell’s comments were framed less as reconciliation and more as competitive appetite — the same logic he used when referencing his spell alongside Lewis Hamilton from 2022 to 2024. In his mind, sharing a garage with the benchmark is a test you choose, not a headache you avoid.
There’s also a second layer here, and it’s where 2026 gets interesting: the Verstappen conversation is no longer confined to F1.
The Canadian Grand Prix arrived just a week after Verstappen turned up at the Nürburgring and immediately looked like he belonged, leading for a large chunk of his debut before a driveshaft problem derailed the run. That outing also underlined a quirky little reality: Verstappen’s GT3 links run through Mercedes, which — at least in theory — makes the idea of a Verstappen/Russell pairing in endurance racing less far-fetched than it sounds.
Russell admitted he’d “definitely” like to take a proper swing at the Nürburgring 24 Hours one day. He’s watched it, he rates it, and he’s under no illusions about how savage it is. He even threw in Bathurst as another example of the kind of endurance brutality F1 drivers romanticise when they’re not the ones nursing a car at 3am.
But Russell also nailed the underlying truth about why Verstappen can indulge these side quests now: the Red Bull driver has already banked the kind of F1 CV that buys freedom.
“All of us are in a slightly different position to Max,” Russell said, pointing out that while he’s still chasing a first world championship, Verstappen is “in a luxurious position to do what he enjoys.”
That line lands with a little extra weight this season because Verstappen’s actual F1 position is, by his standards, painfully un-luxurious. He’s seventh in the standings on 43 points, 45 behind Russell in second. He’s also contractually tied to Red Bull through 2028 on paper — but with a known performance clause, and an understanding he could be free to leave as early as this year if he’s outside the top two at the summer break.
That’s why every “never say never” gets heard twice.
Red Bull has hardly been subtle about keeping the edge in this relationship, either. After Russell’s Canadian retirement — a weekend that ended with him receiving a suspended fine for throwing his headrest onto the track in frustration — Red Bull’s official social channels posted a pointed “Borderline something something,” a wink back to Russell’s 2024 comment. It was petty, yes. It was also the sort of needle that tells you these teams keep score the way drivers do.
Then there’s the bigger storm on the horizon: 2027’s engine direction. Verstappen has warned he’ll walk away from F1 altogether for 2027 if proposed changes — including moving away from the current 50:50 split between internal combustion and electrical power — don’t happen. Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has said the team will support the rule change even though “nobody” is comfortable with a late tweak. Mekies also played down the meaning of Wolff’s chat with Jos Verstappen in Canada, but that’s exactly what every team principal says right up until something changes.
Put it all together and Russell’s remarks read less like a hypothetical and more like a driver staying agile. If Verstappen’s future really does start to loosen at Red Bull, and if Mercedes decides it wants the nuclear option for 2027, Russell is signalling he won’t be intimidated by the idea — and he won’t be the one slamming the door.
In the end, the most revealing thing Russell said wasn’t about friendship or forgiveness. It was about instinct.
“As any driver,” he put it, “you want to go head to head with the best.”
With Verstappen, that’s never just a racing statement. It’s a warning label.
