GEORGE RUSSELL is on the brink of a new £30million-a-year Mercedes deal with Max Verstappen set to stay at Red Bull for another year.
The British driver has been hashing out talks with Merc over the last few weeks, with just the final details to be fine tuned.
PAGeorge Russell is on the brink of a new £30million-a-year Mercedes deal[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialMax Verstappen is set to stay at Red Bull for another year[/caption]
Toto Wolff’s team were keen for an agreement to be made after the final race in Hungary this weekend before the summer break.
It is likely to be later though as Russell’s team go over the details of the new deal.
Mercedes had been keeping tabs on Verstappen but the Dutchman is set to stay put at Red Bull for 2026.
Following Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix he is now unable to activate a release clause that relied on him being outside the top three by the summer break.
The four-time world champion or Mercedes could still buy himself out of his deal that runs until 2028 – but it would cost a pretty penny and this option is not on Verstappen’s radar.
Verstappen is third in the standings 28 points ahead of George Russell in fourth after winning the sprint race in Spa and coming fourth in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
The Dutchman and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton are the highest earners on the grid on around £60m-a-year.
Meanwhile Russell’s new deal will see him roughly on par with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
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Mercedes suffered a disappointing run in Spa with Russell finishing fifth and Kimi Anontelli coming in 16th.
Frustrated Russell slammed the team’s weekend and said crunch talks would be held this week to get to the bottom of the team’s woes.
He said: “We really need to understand what is going on and why we’ve taken such a step backwards because these conditions (in Spa) are ideal for us and our car.
“It’s been the worst performance of the season so we’re going to have a big sit-down this week and try and figure it out.
“We need to sit down as a team. It may be as simple as reserving back to some of the old changes we’ve made. But in F1 it’s never that simple.
“The car isn’t feeling as nice to drive at the moment as it once did. Lacking rear stability.
“Kimi and I are collectively making more mistakes because the car is more challenging to drive. It seems quite strange how we’ve gone so far backwards.”
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