Christian Horner has revealed that Red Bull could make a move for George Russell when his Mercedes contract expires.
Russell has impressed since joining Mercedes from Williams in 2022 – despite the team no longer having the most dominant car on the grid.
The 26-year-old’s current deal comes to an end at the end of next year’s Formula One season and given his capabilities, Horner says Red Bull would be ‘foolish’ to not consider the Brit.
Speaking ahead of the Singapore GP’s qualifying rounds, Horner said: ‘We have got a gap now but we just want to take time to consider what those options look like for the future.
‘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 it into consideration.’
Christian Horner has revealed that Red Bull could make a move for George Russell next year
Russell has impressed since joining Mercedes from Williams but is out of contract in 2025
Russell replaced Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes in 2022 and finished in eighth place last year. He currently sits one position above having won the Austrian GP and secured podium places in Canada, Azerbaijan and Spain.
With Lewis Hamilton set to join Ferrari next season, it was confirmed by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff that Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 18, will take over.
Wolff will be left to scramble for new driver if Mercedes lose both Russell and Hamilton in a short space of time, and he previously made no secret of his interest in luring champion Max Verstappen from fierce rivals Red Bull.
Verstappen committed himself to Red Bull for 2025, though moving to the Silver Arrows a year later remains a possibility to coincide with a major revamp of the regulations. A move for Russell will in that case make sense for Red Bull.
Horner insists Red Bull will not be short of options due to the young talent coming through the ranks.
Horner added in the same interview: ‘We have given a great opportunity to many young drivers, some who you mentioned there. The Red Bull system does demand performance and does demand results.
It was confirmed by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff (right) that Andrea Kimi Antonelli (left) will takeover from Lewis Hamilton next season
‘Of course, Max is delivering. Checo has been underperforming this year, but last year he did a good enough job to finish second and win us the constructors championship.
‘We need to look further down the road, we have got some great talent. We have got Liam Lawson on the bench. We are not quite sure looking at the likes of Colapinto, Bearman and Antonelli, is he at that level? Time will tell. We have got Isack Hadjar in Formula 2, who until recently was leading that championship.
‘We have got a very promising talent that I am particularly excited about in F3 in Arvin Lindblad. We have got lot of depth in our junior programme.’