@Evildaniel1212@cjforaka12 it’s absolutely not about kink’s engineers, but about the quote that russel wants all the worst to his teammate. saying such things is very strange
🗣️ | Toto Wolff says there are no plans to use team orders between the drivers unless it becomes necessary later in the season.
"We’re three races in, the car is good so we need to continue to do our job and give them a tool that they can continue to win or fight for the positions,
Towards the end of the season we’re going to see how the points fall and whether anything needs to be done."
[theguardian.com/sport/2026/mar…]
@effonecasualfan George has handled that for years and is now the senior guy excelling at it (exactly what Toto highlighted before the season). Why would Merc want a driver who needs excessive freedom and less off-track commitment?
@effonecasualfan Everyone already knows how consistent George is, so I won't repeat that. But why ignore that Red Bull gives Max way more freedom to just drive, something Mercedes can't do? They have a reputation to protect and require serious media/sponsor work.
Whichever way you cut it, it does appear that the George Russell-Mercedes partnership might not be a long one as many would ideally hope.
First of all, Kimi Antonelli, in just his second season of F1 is roughly within a couple of tenths of the experienced driver.
And this is not just any driver I'm talking about here, George Russell is one of the top 3 drivers in F1 right now and Kimi Antonelli is already keeping him in sight.
From this point, the only way for Kimi is upwards and the learning curve is still quite steep. He could very well reach a point where he's consistently challenging or even taking on George by the end of the year.
If Mercedes sticks with this combination and Kimi becomes a major player next season, we could potentially see a scenario where George starts getting the stepson treatment (that he arguably got in 2025 as well at times) and the younger driver starts taking over.
That's one scenario.
The other scenario is the return of Max Verstappen to Mercedes rumors.
It was as obvious as it could be last year that Toto Wolff is willing to roll out the Red carpet for Max should he want to join the team.
This year, it's an easier exit clause in place as reportedly he has to be within top 2 by mid-season.
Should that not happen and Verstappen feels that the Long-term future of Red Bull involves a period of rebuild, we could see him make a move to Mercedes..
As we've already seen last year, Toto is willing to let George go if it means Max can join, especially since Kimi is seemingly his pet project.
All lines do lead to a scenario where the George Russell-Mercedes partnership might not be a long one