Racing
© Liauzh
George Russell is already looking beyond Mercedes and could target Audi for 2028, according to former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, who believes Kimi Antonelli’s rise has changed Russell’s long-term position inside the team.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner said Antonelli’s emergence has left Russell facing a bigger problem than a difficult run of races. “I think George is also looking around now, knowing that he’s now with Kimi,” Steiner said. “He doesn’t want to stay with Kimi for the rest of his life, because there he knows where he is for the rest of his life. So, he is trying to find new opportunities.”
That is a sharp shift from where Mercedes started 2026. Russell opened the season by winning in Australia and came into the year as the expected lead driver, but Antonelli quickly turned the internal order upside down. After a heavy FP3 crash in Melbourne left him on the back foot that weekend, the teenager responded with a surge that included wins in China and Japan, where he became the youngest driver ever to lead the world championship at 19 years, 7 months and 4 days.
Antonelli has since built that advantage into one of the defining stories of the season. He has won six races and became the first driver in Formula 1 history to convert his first five pole positions into grand prix victories. Heading into the summer break, he leads the standings on 219 points, 50 clear of Lewis Hamilton and 59 ahead of Russell, who sits on 160.
Steiner argued that Mercedes’ public stance does little to change Russell’s personal situation. Toto Wolff has said team orders will not shape the fight and that Mercedes’ priority is the constructors’ championship, but Steiner said the drivers are fighting a different battle. For Antonelli and Russell, the issue is the world title, and Russell’s position becomes harder if he cannot beat his team-mate in equal machinery.
That is where Audi enters the picture. Steiner said there is strong interest in the project for 2028 and suggested Russell could be among the drivers watching closely. “There’s a lot of interest from drivers to go to Audi for 2028,” he said. “For next year they are pretty set, but there is maybe a possibility in 2028 at Audi. That’s quite an interesting place because they’re making good progress. It seems to be on track, what they are doing.”
Steiner also made clear that Russell would not have that path to himself. “I think there would be quite a few candidates. Carlos for sure,” he said, pointing to Carlos Sainz as one of the names who could be in the mix if an Audi seat opens.
If Steiner’s reading is correct, Russell’s fight with Antonelli is no longer just shaping Mercedes’ 2026 title challenge. It may also be pushing one of the team’s senior drivers to weigh up whether his best chance lies somewhere else by 2028.