George Russell is yet to sign a new contract with Mercedes, and Martin Brundle believes the Brit is ‘not happy’ with the situation at the Silver Arrows at present, urging Toto Wolff to strike a deal

George Russell is said to be unhappy with Mercedes(Image: NurPhoto, NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Martin Brundle claims that George Russell is “not happy” at Mercedes owing to the absence of a contract renewal. The Englishman’s current agreement with the Formula 1 giants is due to run out at the end of the season.

And while Toto Wolff has maintained that he and Kimi Antonelli will stay put in 2026, Brundle is worried that the team boss hasn’t secured the 27-year-old with a fresh contract.

Chatting with Nico Rosberg on Sky Sports F1, the pundit said: “I would have signed George a long time ago, because George is not happy is he? It’s very easy to see that George feels quite bruised about all the Max [Verstappen] talk and what have you through the summer.

“But when you look at the calm at McLaren and other teams, I just think they’ve injected too many of their own problems into the driver line-up. I’d keep him,” reports the Express.

It follows reports that Wolff was keen on tempting four-time world champion Max Verstappen away from Red Bull this summer, which heaped additional pressure on Russell and Antonelli’s displays. And despite a deal falling to come to fruition, the 53-year-old has been open about his desire to recruit him down the line, only heightening team tension according to Brundle.

Rookie Antonelli, meanwhile, is also still yet to receive an extension despite making a worthy replacement for Lewis Hamilton, who left the team to join Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc for the current season. As it stands, Mercedes currently sits third in the race for the Constructors’ Championship, trailing McLaren and Ferrari respectively.

Russell currently sits fourth in the Drivers’ Championship standings with 194 points from six podiums and his sole win in Canada in June. And as he trails Oscar Piastri who holds the top spot for McLaren by a mammoth 130 points, a turnaround in the final eight Grand Prix of the season looks incredibly unlikely.

Martin Brundle has issued some sage advice to Toto Wolff(Image: Getty)

Antonelli, meanwhile, currently sits eighth in the standings with just a single podium to his name, and his disappointing display in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix exposed his difficulties this season. After securing seventh place on the grid, Antonelli finished ninth at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, earning a black and white final warning flag for repeated track limit breaches.

He also received a five-second penalty for running Alex Albon of Williams off the circuit. Discussing Antonelli’s showing at his home GP, Wolff said: “Underwhelming this weekend. Underwhelming. You can’t put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there. All of the race was underwhelming.

“It doesn’t change anything on my support and confidence in his future because I believe he’s going to be very, very, very good. But today was underwhelming.”

Kimi Antonelli struggled at the Italian GP(Image: Formula 1 via Getty Images)

In response to how Mercedes can unlock the 19-year-old’s true potential, the team boss said: “Just freeing him up. Freeing him up. You know, he’s a great driver. He has this unbelievable ability and natural talent. He’s a race driver. It’s all there. But we need to get rid of the ballast.”

He added: “I think a clean weekend means almost not to carry too much trauma of previous mistakes into the next session or into the next weekend because that is [baggage]. You’re not going to attack the corner hard if you’ve been off there before you’ve finished your session or maybe you’re not attacking a driver that should not be in your way.”

Antonelli and Russell, who secured fifth place in Italy, are now gearing up for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, set to take place at the Baku City Circuit on Sunday, September 21.