Russell has been “hung out to dry” by Mercedes, in the opinion of Brundle, who feels the Brit has done a “brilliant job” of taking over from Lewis Hamilton as the Mercedes team leader, but is left in an “embarrassing” situation where he does not yet have a contract agreed to keep him with the team beyond F1 2025.

George Russell says there’s an “exceptionally low” chance he’ll leave Mercedes next year even after he claimed the team was holding talks with Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen.