George Russell has publicly confirmed he will remain at Mercedes next season, despite admitting the subject has never formally been raised with team principal Toto Wolff.
The British driver made the comments following his victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, his second win of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Russell’s win in Austria helped reduce his championship deficit to team-mate Kimi Antonelli, bringing the gap down to 40 points.
Antonelli, the young Italian, has taken five victories this season in the same car, making Russell’s two wins look comparatively modest in the context of their internal battle.
“I’ll be racing here next year, 100 per cent,” Russell told media after the race, delivering one of the more direct and unambiguous statements of the silly season so far.
He went further, explaining the topic had not even come up in conversations at the team, saying: “It hasn’t even been discussed [with Wolff]. We don’t need to discuss it. It’s not even a question mark.”
Russell added: “I don’t want to go into any more detail, but I will be here next year and that’s the fact of it.”
The admission is notable given that Russell’s contract, signed last year, was understood to cover only the 2026 season, leaving his future beyond that point officially unconfirmed.
Speculation about his seat has grown throughout the year, fuelled in part by Wolff’s well-documented admiration for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose own long-term future has remained uncertain.
Russell’s form dipped significantly during the middle portion of the season, with a pointless Monaco Grand Prix leaving him 68 points behind Antonelli at one stage, after the young Italian had strung together five consecutive victories.
However, the championship picture has since shifted, with Antonelli suffering a retirement from second place at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix and then managing only third in Austria after a qualifying mistake.
With the summer break approaching, Antonelli will need to protect his 40-point lead carefully, or risk the momentum in the title fight continuing to swing back toward his experienced team-mate.