Red Bull's George Russell plan has Christian Horner and Helmut Marko at odds
Christian Horner recently suggested Red Bull could target George Russell next season with the Briton out of contract at the end of 2025 with fierce F1 rivals Mercedes
Helmut Marko has played down the prospect of a shock Red Bull move to poach George Russell from rivals Mercedes.
His fellow Red Bull chief Christian Horner hinted at the prospect at last month's Singapore Grand Prix. Russell is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of next season and Horner suggested he and his team would entertain the idea of making a move for the Brit.
He 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 that into consideration."
Red Bull currently have Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez as their driver line-up. However, an upheaval is not out of the question with plenty of speculation over both their futures in recent months.
Verstappen has a contract until 2028 but has made clear his dissatisfaction with the governance of the FIA, among other issues, and has suggested he is likely to retire from F1 sooner than expected. And Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also spent much time earlier this year trying to tempt the Dutchman to quit and replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
Perez is the one in the most immediate danger of being replaced, though. He barely survived the axe earlier this season despite signing a new contract amid a string of lacklustre performances and the jury remains out on the Mexican, even though his main rival for that seat, Daniel Ricciardo, has already been shown the door.
Russell would be a strong option for Red Bull should they decide to make a change and long-serving team adviser Marko admits the Brit has been impressive this season. But he suggested they would prefer to look at their internal candidates before seriously considering a swoop for the Mercedes man.
Marko said: "George Russell is on a par with Hamilton in qualifying, if not faster, but Russell is Mercedes-Benz-affiliated and now we are focusing on our juniors. Let's see what our juniors, or even Yuki Tsunoda can do. He can also be described as a junior, but how does he compare to [Liam] Lawson?"
Horner echoed the suggestion that Red Bull would like to give one of their younger drivers a shot at the seat alongside Verstappen, should it become available, and added: "The Red Bull system does demand performance and does demand results. 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."
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