Christian Horner has opened the door for George Russell to join Red Bull, insisting that it would be "foolish" not to consider the Brit given his contract with Mercedes expires at the end of next season.
Mercedes have been openly courting Max Verstappen's signature for some time and with the Dutchman available to poach for 2026 thanks to a contract clause, change could soon be afoot at Brackley.
If the three-time world champion does swap Red Bull for Mercedes then Toto Wolff will have a difficult decision to make. Both Kimi Antonelli and Russell are tied down in 2025 only, and both are valued graduates of the team's young driver programme.
If Verstappen goes to Mercedes and Russell is ousted then Red Bull could potentially look to pounce, according to team principal Horner. "George Russell is out of contract [in 2025], he told Sky Sports F1. "It would be foolish not to take that into consideration"
Losing Russell to arch-rivals Red Bull would no doubt be a brutal blow for Wolff. The Austrian poured significant resources into the 26-year-old's career during his time in Formula Three, Formula Two and at Williams in the hopes that he could one day lead the team after Lewis Hamilton's departure.
While 2025 is on the radar, Horner has difficult driver decisions to make in the short term too. Daniel Ricciardo may be racing his last Grand Prix in Singapore with rumours circulating that Liam Lawson could be thrust into the car for the United States Grand Prix onwards.
"These things are under constant review and there is obviously a much bigger picture other than just Daniel as we continue to look at all of our options as we move forward," he explained when quizzed about the eight-time Grand Prix winner's future.
"There's a natural break coming, with effectively almost a month's gap to the next race. It's only natural that you'll take stock and consider all of those options for the final part of the year. It's not to the detriment of Daniel. We know how he's performed.
"We've got a lot of data, a lot of knowledge of where Daniel is. It's a much bigger picture within the whole driver merry-go-round of what the future looks like. Inevitably, we'll sit down during this three-week period of off time and consider all of those options."
