Max Verstappen is to be stopped by Mercedes: help for George Russell

Drivers’ Championship wrapped up: Kimi Antonelli was crowned world champion with Mercedes in Mexico. Constructors’ Championship wrapped up: The brand with the star secured its ninth title in Brazil. So what’s left?

Quite simply: Mercedes wants second place in the Drivers’ Championship, but Max Verstappen currently holds that position. Following his second-place finish in the São Paulo Grand Prix, the Dutchman stands on 279 points, whilst the Englishman has 262.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff in Brazil: “We want George Russell to score as many points as possible in the final races and reclaim second place in the World Championship.”

The next race is in Las Vegas, and Russell has fond memories of the circuit: victory from pole in 2024, second place in 2025.

Toto Wolff continued: “We will now take our time to consider what we can do to help George. Having achieved our main objectives, the focus is now entirely on Russell. We owe it to him, given how difficult things have been for him on several occasions this year.”

“The best example was qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix. He dominated on a wet track, but then we cost him pole position.”

As a reminder: when his race engineer, Marcus Dudley, told his driver that he was second fastest, the driver lost his composure: “Why did you tell me to ease off the throttle?”

Team principal Toto Wolff stepped in: “George, you’re P2.”

George snapped: “I don’t want to be P2, I want to be P1.”

The reason behind Dudley’s advice: the engineer wanted Russell to create a gap to the car in front so he’d have a clear run. But there were no further laps because the rain picked up again.

Russell, looking very glum after qualifying: “I was definitely on a pole lap; unfortunately, that was a misjudgement on our part – we need to find out exactly how that could have happened. The rain came; we simply should have finished that final lap. When it really mattered, we weren’t ready.”