George Russell and Christian Horner spotted in talks as Red Bull and Mercedes at odds

, and were spotted deep in conversation in the paddock on Sunday as they discussed a controversial moment under yellow flag conditions. After being overtaken by both drivers during the early stages of the Grand Prix, Verstappen found himself in third, while Russell was behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli in fifth. However, a virtual safety car shuffled the order, and the Brit jumped into third with the Red Bull star behind him.

Later in the race, another virtual safety car was thrown after Gabriel Bortoleto pulled to the side with a power unit issue. With the yellow flags waving, Verstappen jumped on his radio, telling race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: "Check if George lifted. It was yellow." The stewards decided not to investigate the matter, but after Verstappen crossed the line within five seconds of Russell, Red Bull protested. Horner's squad claimed that the four-time Grand Prix winner did not slow under yellow flag conditions, but this was thrown out by the FIA.

Their report explained that it was "evident from the onboard footage as well as from telemetry that car 63 lifted the throttle when passing the yellow flag zone", adding that the Mercedes driver was "considerably slower than the regular racing speed, but the absolute speed while passing through the yellow flag zone increased slightly".

Afterwards, in the paddock, Russell, Wolff and Horner were spotted conversing in a gaggle of Red Bull employees outside the team's motorhome. Lambiase and technical director Pierre Wache were also part of the cohort.

This was a change of tone from previous conversations between Horner and Russell. According to a report from , the two parties have already held preliminary talks about availability for 2026.

Red Bull are in danger of losing star driver Verstappen to either Mercedes or Aston Martin, while Russell is yet to put pen to paper on new terms with Wolff's organisation, despite scoring four podiums in the first six Grands Prix of the 2025 campaign.

Despite the strange contract situation, Russell is not losing his cool. "When Lewis [Hamilton] was here, they never discussed the contract prior to June or July," he explained. "It was always the summer, the abnormal part is probably how many drivers have signed so early on long contracts.

"I feel a lot of drivers who are so fixated on trying to secure their futures are maybe ones who don't have as much self-belief in themselves and feel the need to have that security. The fact is, if you have a contract and you don't perform, the team finds a way of getting rid of you."