De Telegraaf: sensational Mercedes, Russell risks his seat if Antonelli beats him. And Wolff thinks back to Verstappen

Indiscretions from Holland The Formula 1 drivers market heats up over the Monte Carlo weekend. No official announcement – the only one remains that of the renewal of Charels Leclerc’s contract with Ferrari – but interesting rumors that start from a possible ‘flirtation’ between the usual suspects of recent years as regards the Circus market: Max Verstappen and Toto Wolff. The source of the indiscretion is ‘heavy’, because it is Erik Van Haren, the Dutch journalist from De Telegraaf who is always very well informed on everything concerning the environment surrounding the four-time Dutch Red Bull world champion. In an article that appeared today on the Dutch website, Van Haren once again brought Mercedes closer to the #3 orange. According to reports, in fact, Mercedes could terminate the contract with George Russell if the Englishman finds himself behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the standings during the summer break. It wouldn’t be such an absurd hypothesis – such clauses are quite frequent between drivers and teams – and the fact that at the moment Russell has to recover 43 points from the driver from Bologna certainly doesn’t suggest a quick rejoining in the rankings. The triangle perhaps Russell would therefore risk losing the world title in one fell swoop this year – which already seemed to be his in Australia – and also the Mercedes seat that he had coveted so much during his three-year stay in Williams from 2019 to 2021. In fact, Toto Wolff could take advantage of Russell’s release and the simultaneous possibility of Max Verstappen freeing himself from Red Bull to attempt yet another all-in on the Dutchman. And this time, given the competitiveness shown by Mercedes at this start to the season, it would be difficult for Verstappen to repel the advances of the silver arrows. But the domino effect would not end there. In fact, Van Haren also confirms that, in the event of Verstappen’s departure, Red Bull would have already identified the replacement: it would be Oscar Piastri. The Australian from McLaren would be the first on Laurent Mekies’ list, regardless of the ‘internal’ promotion projects of the various Lindblad, Lawson or Tsunoda. Paradoxically, this could be the most complicated negotiation to bring to fruition, considering that McLaren has always reiterated that it wants to retain its pair of drivers and that Piastri has a valid agreement with Woking until at least the end of 2027. But even in this case there could be clauses to appeal to. What seems certain is that a possible title-winning season from Andrea Kimi Antonelli could bring some impressive disruptions to the grid.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-06-06 21:38:00