Wolff does not hide that he is interested in Verstappen's plans.

      George Russell, responding to the question of why Mercedes is not rushing to extend his contract, said yesterday that this is a question for Toto Wolff, but clearly hinted that the team's owners are showing interest in Max Verstappen.

      Today, the same question was put to the head of Mercedes-AMG F1, and here is what Wolff replied: "First of all, I want to emphasize that there is no delay in negotiations regarding George's contract. We've long decided on the timing, George knows this, so there is no talk of a delay.

      At the same time, as the team principal responsible for the works team of the world's best car brand, of course I'm interested in what a four-time world champion is planning for the future, and that is what I am trying to find out. That’s understandable, although it has no direct relation to George’s contract situation.

      But we’re talking about a long-term perspective; we have to understand what kind of timeline Max is considering — nothing more, nothing less."

      When directly asked if this means that Russell is more likely to remain a Mercedes driver next year than to give up his seat to Verstappen, Wolff answered categorically: "Yes. Whether I like it or not, I like what George says. I always support my drivers, and there is never a case where I tell them what they should say.

      I believe we don’t hide what we’re doing, what we’re planning — and that's how it's been since I became the head of this team. So there is no difficulty here, and at the moment our task is unequivocally to try to anticipate how events will develop in the future.

      But I repeat, nothing changes for either George or Kimi, and I am very pleased with our team line-up."