Toto Wolff on George Russell’s Contract and Max Verstappen Talks

couple of the interview George gave to us where he said that maybe the delay in

his own contract was because it was only natural that conversations with the likes

of Verstappen were ongoing. Are such conversations ongoing, Toto?

First of all there is no delay in George's contract negotiations because

it's pretty clear since a long time what our timings were and are and you know

we've known each other for such a long time and so there is no such thing as a

delay. But also you know as a team principal responsible for the best

car brand in the world it's clear that you're exploring what a

four-time world champion is going to do in the future and that could be long

into the future and that's clear but that has no effect on you know us putting

a signature on George's contract. So what tentative conversations with Marxist

people is that the best way to understand it about maybe the future

beyond next year potentially? Yeah I think it's also a long-term perspective

and to understand what is the framework that you're

operating under, no more no less. So would you say George is the

likeliest to be in your car, likelier than Max next season? Yes. Absolutely and

he's not disappointed by this at all, you sense he's perfectly accepting of all

that. You know what we're trying to do in the team is to be transparent as good as

we are. You can either choose of holding things under wraps or like we've done in

the last 10-12 years that I've been there is putting it out there and say

this is the situation. These drivers are clever people, they

talk with each other and I'm always open about these things and I'm seeing it

how it is and there is no such thing as saying you know we're gonna sign Max

because it's so far away that it's not realistic at that stage. So with George

we talk about everything.