Cowell addresses speculation over Aston Martin potentially interested in signing Russell

With Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull still up in the air, another top driver is also waiting to see what 2026 holds, when the new technical regulations kick in.

George Russell, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, has made it clear he wants to stay with Mercedes next year and beyond.

The British driver is still waiting to hear Toto Wolff’s final decision on the driver lineup, with Kimi Antonelli confirmed, but the other seat remains a key question mark.

In recent weeks, Russell was also linked to Aston Martin, whose team, led by Lawrence Stroll, has heavily invested in staff and infrastructure and is positioning itself as one of the top teams for the upcoming regulatory phase — thanks in large part to the genius of Adrian Newey.

Speaking at the team principals’ press conference in Silverstone, Aston Martin CEO and team principal - and former Mercedes figure - Andy Cowell addressed the rumours: ''We're super fortunate. We've got this exciting run into '26. As Christian (Horner) mentioned, changing the power unit – we're working with Honda on that – changing the aerodynamics, we've got Adrian working on that, we've got new facilities.''

Cowell finally added: ''Everything's exceptionally tight. But that stability of having two drivers signed up through into '26 is really helping us.''