Russell added to BBC Sport: “Toto clearly told me that the way I played is as good as anyone.
“There is only one pilot that you can debate in terms of performance. These are his words and not my words, and that is why I have no concerns about my future.
“But there are two seats in each team and I suppose that he must think who are these two pilots.”
Russell’s comments imply that his own contract for interviews with the director of the Toto Wolff team is delayed by Mercedes’ conversations with the quadruple champion.
Friday, Wolff told the Austrian Grand Prix: “George has always played the expectations we have set. We have not given him a car to win the world championship in the past three years and that’s about us.
“The times the car is good, he has won shopping. You know he’s going to extract what’s in the car.
“In a normal company, contractual discussions are not held as town halls, everything is normal, everything will plan.”
In direct response to Russell’s comments on Verstappen, Wolff said: “You go to territory, I don’t want to chat there. People are talking and exploring, and in our organization, people are transparent. But that does not change my opinion on George.”
In a separate interview with Sky, Wolff was asked if Russell was “more likely” to be in a Mercedes than Verstappen in 2026 and replied “yes”.
He added: “These drivers are intelligent people, they talk to each other, and I am always open to things and I say it as is, and there are no such things as we are going to sign Max, because it is so far that it is not realistic at this stage.”
Verstappen refused to comment directly when asked on Thursday if he would stay with Red Bull next year.
“I don’t think we have to talk about it,” he said. “It’s not really in my mind. I drive well, trying to push performance, then we focus on next year.”
