Christian Horner’s comments about George Russell speak volumes after Singapore claim

Christian Horner has admitted George Russell is on Red Bull’s driver radar for 2026, with the Mercedes star’s long-term future hinging on his performance next year.

Christian Horner’s revelation that George Russell is on Red Bull’s radar should come as no surprise.

The regular Red Bull driver saga is in full swing, with Daniel Ricciardo set to be dropped from the sister RB squad and replaced by Liam Lawson for the rest of 2025. Meanwhile, in the main team, Sergio Perez, is under intense pressure following an awful season which has seen him get nowhere near the pace of world champion team-mate Max Verstappen.

The Mexican could lose his drive for 2025, and possibly before if his struggles continue. It’s become a familiar trend for Red Bull, who have regularly chopped and changed drivers over the years.

The Milton Keynes squad do have options in their young driver stable, although team principal Horner insists the team is prepared to look beyond that, as they did when hiring Perez in 2021. During the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Horner highlighted the fact Russell’s Mercedes contract is up at the end of 2025.

He told Sky Sports F1: “We’re not afraid to go out of the pool. George Russell is out of contract at the end of next year and it would be foolish for us not to take that into consideration.”

Horner has been a long-time fan of Russell and has commended the British driver in the past several times. This year before COVID-19 affected Hamiltons presence in the track, Russell of Williams substituted for him at Sakir Grand Prix and nearly clinched victory.

‘If George was on the open market then I think a lot of teams would want to snap him up,’ Horner said to Sky Sports F1 at the time. “He’s a young boy, very talented but he races for Mercedes now and I believe they have good plans for him.

“He will be fully ready to pull his boots on now and eager to have his opportunity. I believe he wanted to come to play here [at South Carolina], and I think he has served his apprenticeship [at Williams] and he’s obviously ready for that next step. Anybody would be foolish not to look at him but I do not think that [Russell being on the market] is so because of the agreement signed with Mercedes.

After that, Horner was asked in an interview with GQ in 2022 about who Verstappen’s main contender is, Charles Leclerc or Hamilton. Again, he took the chance to mention Russell, saying: ‘Of course we are aware that George Russell is a very big talent, that Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time world champion and he is not exactly idle either.’

So I felt that Formula 1 does have some talented people with what I felt to be an influx of great young talent. I believe that having such pair as Max and Charles is very interesting in particular.”

While teenager Kimi Antonelli takes Hamilton’s place, who is moving to Ferrari, for 2025 and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff who has made no effort to hide the fact that he wants to sign Verstappen in the future.