George Russell moved to shut down fresh driver-market speculation around Mercedes, saying he was “100 percent” certain he would race for the team next season and in 2027. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Russell said there had been no real discussion about his future with team principal Toto Wolff, that there was “not even a question mark” over his place at Mercedes, and that there would be no announcement this weekend. The comments came as rumors about Max Verstappen’s next move gathered pace.

Wolff then reinforced the message after FP3 in Austria, saying Mercedes plans to keep its current lineup for 2027, that Russell will remain with the team and that Verstappen is not a current target. Wolff called Verstappen “off the radar” for now, said he is very happy with Russell and Kimi Antonelli, and saw no reason to change a pairing he believes is working well. He also defended Russell’s season, saying the Briton has had poor luck and limited results without needing to prove his speed, while Mercedes’ strong form has put the team in position to lead the constructors’ championship this season.

The wider paddock speculation has centered on Verstappen’s future with Red Bull and beyond, with reports linking him to both Mercedes and McLaren and saying he may be exploring the market, including possible secret talks with McLaren about a 2027 move. Earlier comments from Russell about talks involving Wolff and Verstappen helped fuel discussion of a possible Mercedes shake-up, and the rumors have also raised questions about Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and other drivers. Broader driver-market talk has reached Red Bull’s junior ranks too, although Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane dismissed reports that Nikola Tsolov could be promoted, calling them rumor.

Fernando Alonso criticized Formula 1 rivals for continuing to pour effort into 2026 car development despite the FIA cost cap, joking that some teams must have a “money machine” in their factory. He pointed to Ferrari’s update package in Barcelona, Red Bull’s planned major upgrade for Austria, Cadillac’s long list of changes and McLaren as examples of teams still finding performance late in the season. Alonso also cited the FIA’s Friday documentation on visible car changes as evidence that some teams were pushing harder than others under the rules.

Alonso contrasted that approach with Aston Martin’s decision to pause smaller updates and wait for a larger package around the summer break. The team has found the AMR26 difficult to improve through minor changes, so it has chosen a one-step development push under technical partner Adrian Newey’s direction. Chief trackside officer Mike Krack said the issue came down to budget management and commitment, and Alonso said he supported the plan because Aston Martin needed more than “a few tenths” while running near the back of the grid.

Aston Martin has scored only one point this season, with Alonso saying his Monaco 10th-place finish accounted for it, although one report said that result came after penalty-related position changes rather than on pure pace. Alonso said the team had been working “flat-out” and urged people not to underestimate it. Carlos Sainz also described the budget pressure facing Williams, saying the team planned aero upgrades for Silverstone and Azerbaijan, was managing its spending carefully and was delaying lighter components until earlier parts had been fully used.

The FIA has rewritten Formula 1’s 2027 technical regulations to ban Ferrari-style exhaust winglet concepts, closing a loophole Ferrari used to generate rear downforce. The update, published after approval by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Macau, adds an exclusion zone around the tailpipe in Article C2.3.7 and tightens rules on exhaust-support structures, with the FIA saying it wants to stop similar ideas from developing further.

Ferrari introduced the device on its SF-26 during pre-season testing in Bahrain, directing exhaust gases toward a small winglet above the tailpipe to improve airflow and rear downforce. The concept remained legal under the 2026 rules and will stay legal for the rest of this season. Ferrari has been evaluating whether to keep running it at every circuit, and in Austrian Grand Prix practice Lewis Hamilton’s car kept the winglet while Dino Beganovic’s ran without it.

The revised wording also appears aimed at a separate tailpipe-bracket loophole that Mercedes and other teams had found earlier in the season, with teams including Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull later developing similar interpretations. Those versions will also be blocked when the 2027 rules take effect, as the FIA moves to cut off aerodynamic workarounds across the grid.

Ferrari’s Austrian Grand Prix weekend began with another reminder of how much work the team still faced, as Charles Leclerc said after Friday practice that the team was likely to struggle at the Red Bull Ring. Leclerc said Ferrari’s running exposed weaknesses in both straight-line speed and cornering, and he called for a lot of work overnight before qualifying. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in both practice sessions, while Leclerc was eighth in FP2 after missing FP1 so rookie Dino Beganovic could drive the SF-26.

Leclerc said the problems were broader than his absence from first practice and said he was surprised by Ferrari’s lack of cornering pace, since that had usually been one of the team’s strengths. He said there was no obvious fix for the straight-line deficit, and both he and Hamilton were unhappy with the car. Team principal Fred Vasseur also described the day as difficult, saying Austria’s hot, high-altitude conditions were unfavourable and that Ferrari’s new engine was only a decent step forward rather than a major breakthrough.

Ferrari had arrived in Spielberg with a fresh power unit introduced through the ADUO performance-balancing mechanism, part of an upgrade push aimed at improving its chances of returning to the podium. Leclerc said the development pointed the team in the right direction, but he did not consider Ferrari the favourite for the weekend and said Mercedes still had the edge on the circuit’s long straights. He said the update was progress rather than a complete fix, and while he expected Ferrari to be competitive in the race, he thought the team might be more vulnerable in qualifying.