With George Russell yet to be given a contract extension by Toto Wolff at Mercedes, Nico Rosberg reminisced about how the Austrian disappeared into thin air during the contract negotiations phase. Rosberg had worked with Wolff at the German giant between 2013-2016.
Rosberg had joined the Brackley-based squad in 2010 and brought Mercedes’ first race win in over five decades as the team resurrected. Moreover, Wolff was brought over from Williams to guide the German giant in 2013, alongside Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at the team.
In the following years, the German constructor emerged as the dominant force in F1 with a feisty driver lineup. Despite the two finishing 1-2 in the drivers’ standings since 2014, his drivers were not able to engage Wolff in contract extensions.
Moreover, a similar situation is going down at Mercedes right now, as George Russell has been the best of the rest more often than not in 2025. Despite this, he has not been offered a new contract with the team, leading Nico Rosberg to assert how such tactics are a common practice by Wolff during such a phase, as he said on the Sky Sports F1 broadcast:
“Toto’s horrible to negotiate with, because his tactic is to disappear. So when you try… like George now, he’s trying to get hold of him, Toto will disappear. George will be trying to write Toto to get him [to get] a move on, or whatever, and Toto disappears.”
“But I remember from my time that was his style, just like disappearing, not answering, being hard to reach… and it’s horrible, because you’re like, ‘come on!’ You have nothing, you have no chance… do whatever you can; you need to find a way to cross paths.’
Nico Rosberg retired after winning the drivers’ title in 2016 and parted ways with Mercedes, despite having a valid contract running till the end of the 2018 season.
Nico Rosberg shares his solution for Kimi Antonelli’s slump at Mercedes
Nico Rosberg was once in the front seat at Mercedes. The German constructor was the team everyone wanted to be in, but since the introduction of the ground-effect era of regulations, the silver arrows have played catch-up.
On the other hand, the squad also lost its biggest ally in the form of Lewis Hamilton, as the Briton departed to join Ferrari. This allowed Kimi Antonelli to step up to F1 with the Brackley-based squad and claim his maiden podium at the Canadian GP.
But, since then, the teenager has been in a tough slump with the Belgian GP being the worst weekend for him since the season started. To curb Antonelli’s torrid run of performances, Nico Rosberg suggested that Wolff offer him a new contract and said on the Sky Sports F1 broadcast:
“In Toto’s case, I would sign that contract with him – there’s not much money [involved] anyway – and that would give him such a boost of confidence… But just signing that contract would him, certainly, this one step change of comfort, relaxation time.”
However, as it stands, both Russell and Antonelli are yet to receive contract extensions with Mercedes, which they are slated to receive ahead of the summer break.
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Edited by Mitali
