“Good things take a while,” says Wolff on Russell F1 contract talk

With just six rounds remaining in the 2025 Formula 1 season, George Russell is yet to sign a new contract with Mercedes. After his commanding win at the Singapore Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claimed that “good things take a while” when explaining the delay to the new deal. 

Russell joined Mercedes from Williams in 2022 and his contract with the team was later extended until the end of 2025. That deal is now nearing its end, and the 27-year-old remains locked in discussions over his future with the team.

Both parties have remained tight-lipped on the progress of these talks, but Wolff admitted after the Singapore GP that the pair were now working on the “detail” of the new contract.

“Contract-wise, good things take a while,” Wolff said after Russell picked up a lights-to-flag victory at Marina Bay on Sunday. “It’s about the detail, and it’s not about the big topics.”

When pressed by Sky Germany about the progress of these talks, Wolff added: “We’ll announce it soon enough.”

For Russell’s part in proceedings, he explained that “things have to be done right” while speaking with reporters ahead of the Singapore race. Negotiations remain ongoing between the Briton and his employer as the pair seeks something that is “mutually beneficial”.

“I think for any driver, when you get to a certain point in your career, things have to be done right,” Russell said. “Every time you renew a contract, it’s the most important one of your life and it has to be done with good care. There’s nothing to worry about, and it will get done when it gets done.”

Wolff’s praise of Russell therefore shows there should be little to worry about regarding his F1 future, with the only other unconfirmed seats for next year being at Alpine or the two Red Bull-backed outfits. 

“He’s been formidable this year,” Wolff remarked. “I haven’t seen mistakes. There were weekends that he himself said, ‘I could have done more, and I wasn’t a good race’. But this happens with any driver. 

“You can see when it just merges, the car being in a perfect space, and the driver being on top of things, that becomes a dominant formula, and that is what we’ve seen here.”

Russell leaves Singapore fourth in the F1 drivers’ standings after picking up two wins and a further six podium finishes so far in 2025.

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– The Autosport.com Team