Toto Wolff won’t be ‘sadistic’ over Mercedes F1 2026 line-up as timeline set

Toto Wolff says he wants Mercedes’ 2026 driver line-up to be finalised by the end of the summer break in August. 

George Russell is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of this year and is yet to be handed an extension, while rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli was signed on a long-term deal to replace Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes are yet to fully commit to Russell for 2026 and Wolff admitted over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend that the team are exploring the possibility of signing Max Verstappen in the future.

Speaking after Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, Wolff revealed that he would like to have Mercedes’ driver line-up for next season set in stone between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix in August. 

“You need to be respectable towards the stakeholders in all of that process. The organisation, the drivers, everybody. You need to understand the way forward,” Wolff told media including Crash.net in Spielberg.

“And I don't want to be sadistic in letting a driver wait or not taking any decisions when it should be taken. So I feel we're in a good space. We're [in] June.

“Obviously there's lots of discussions around. I've been open with it and transparent. And at a certain stage in the next couple of months - until the summer break, we need to know. Until the summer break, everything is going to be done.”

Pushed on whether that meant before or after the summer break, Wolff smiled: “Maybe in the middle.”

Could Mercedes really sign Max Verstappen?

Speculation over Verstappen potentially leaving Red Bull for Mercedes intensified ahead of the weekend when Russell claimed his talks over a contract renewal were being delayed because his team is also speaking to the Dutchman.

Four-time world champion Verstappen is under contract to Red Bull until 2028 but his deal is understood to include performance-based exit clauses that could enable him to leave earlier.

"First of all, there is no delay in George's contract situation because it's pretty clear since a long time what our timings were," Wolff told Sky Sports. "We've known each other for such a long time, so there is no such thing as a delay.

"But also as a team principal responsible for the best car brand in the world, it is clear you're exploring what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future, and that could be a long time in the future. But that has no effect on us putting a signature on George's contract.”

Wolff has been pursuing Verstappen since seven-time world champion Hamilton announced his departure from Mercedes in early 2024.