George Russell reveals crucial Mercedes contract talks 'decision'

George Russell has revealed that it was his own "decision" to pause contract talks with Mercedes during the summer break. The Briton remains without a deal for next season but is confident that an agreement will be reached to continue with the Silver Arrows. Russell's contract discussions had been delayed earlier this year due to talks between Mercedes and Max Verstappen; however, all signs now point to the 27-year-old and Kimi Antonelli being retained for 2026. Despite this, negotiations are still ongoing, and Russell has not set a timeline for when a final agreement will be signed. There appears to be a clear eagerness from team principal Toto Wolff to finalise the deal, with Russell revealing that the Austrian was willing to work through the summer break. However, it was Russell who decided not to engage in talks during the two-week F1 hiatus, choosing instead to prioritise rest and recovery. "I mean, definitely, the summer break was a very good time for me to think about my whole situation, what I want from my future, not just on track, but everything that happens off track," Russell told select media, including RacingNews365 . "And there's a lot more to our role than just driving the cars on a Sunday afternoon, and those conversations have really been picked up this week, not really through the break, because that was more my decision.  "I wanted to take the time off. Toto and the team were very willing to work through the summer break to come to a sort of resolution, but I wanted just to take that time because those two weeks are pretty precious for all of us, and it's, as I said, moving in a positive direction.  "So I think we're getting closer to being on the same page with a few things, and hopefully, in the coming... realistically, it's probably going to be, we're talking maybe number of weeks before anything really happens.  "But there's no major rush, and I don't want to really put a timeline on it, when it will happen. If that's next week, a month, two months, three months, it will be what it'll be."