‘Something is happening’ between Mercedes and Verstappen, according to Sky Sports analyst Brundle

“I think George Russell is nervous and is ringing around a bit. There’s no smoke without fire.“2026 is the biggest change in F1 for the chassis and power unit. Mercedes will be there or thereabouts as well,” began Brundle in his analysis for English Sky Sports. This was a reaction to the story that Italian media had released earlier.

Although he did not want to go into detail, the former F1 driver made it clear that something is going on between Verstappen and Mercedes. "Can Max actually get out of his contract? Something is up," stated the 66-year-old. According to Brundle, it is absolutely not unthinkable that Verstappen will leave Red Bull and take over Russell's seat at the German team in 2026.

Karun Chandhok also joined his colleague's analysis. "We don’t know what the thresholds are in terms of him being able to extricate himself from the Red Bull contract, but if you were Max Verstappen, you would look next year at the performance of the top teams and then pick and choose where you want to go in the future," said the Sky analyst.

Although the Italian and British branches of Sky Sports report that a switch from Verstappen to Mercedes is imminent, this information does not align with what GPBlog knows. Verstappen reportedly does not see a better sporting alternative than Red Bull Racing; thus, in-depth negotiations between the reigning world champion and the German team have not yet been initiated.