{"id":495375,"date":"2025-09-11T02:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T06:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/?post_type=news&#038;p=495375"},"modified":"2025-09-11T04:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T08:40:04","slug":"russell-fights-toto-with-his-own-medicine-says-nico-rosberg-amid-contract-extension-speculations","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/news\/russell-fights-toto-with-his-own-medicine-says-nico-rosberg-amid-contract-extension-speculations\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Russell fights Toto with his own medicine&#8221;, says Nico Rosberg amid contract extension speculations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>George Russell\u2019s future at Mercedes may seem secure after Max Verstappen announced he is staying at Red Bull at least until the end of 2026, but with just 8 races left in the season, the team still hasn\u2019t announced his contract extension.<\/p>\n<p>While both sides insist a deal is inevitable, the delay is leading to many speculations at the paddock.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Nico Rosberg drops George Russell salary tease in Mercedes contract stand-off:<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nico Rosberg hinted at salary and sponsor issues with George Russell yet to sign a new Mercedes contract. Rosberg sees Russell &#8220;fighting Toto Wolff with his own medicine&#8221; as Russell has not yet\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UyDuqPAy5V\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/UyDuqPAy5V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 This is Formula 1 (@ThisIsFormu1a1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsFormu1a1\/status\/1965844339495678255?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">September 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Team boss Toto Wolff has repeatedly downplayed the urgency, but negotiations appear to be dragging on longer than expected.<\/p>\n<p>With Mercedes already confirming Kimi Antonelli for 2026, the focus remains firmly on tying down their four-time Grand Prix winner.<\/p>\n<p>Former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, speaking on Sky Sports\u2019 F1 Show podcast, hinted at where the stumbling blocks might be. He suggested Russell\u2019s frustrations could stem from salary and sponsorship commitments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s horrible to negotiate with Toto,\u201d Rosberg said. \u201cHe just disappears off planet Earth when you\u2019re trying to get better terms. I suffered a lot! Now, it\u2019s George doing the reverse to Toto, he\u2019s fighting Toto with his own medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reports have indicated that Mercedes are unwilling to match Lando Norris\u2019 salary, despite Russell believing he belongs in the same roster as him. Rosberg agreed, noting that Russell \u201ccan drive at Lando\u2019s level and can win races and championships if he has the car,\u201d making the pay gap a natural source of tension.<\/p>\n<p>Another issue is the number of sponsor commitments. Top F1 drivers can spend up to 60 days a year fulfilling marketing obligations\u2014something Russell is said to want reduced in his new deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Russell\u2019s future at Mercedes may seem secure after Max Verstappen announced he is staying at Red Bull at least until the end [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":495376,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"tags":[17680,17140,16926,26689,16925],"news_category":[16921,16715],"gn_keywords":[18340,26772,17856,26686,17986,1081],"acf":{"news_source":"","link_picture":"","announce":"The British driver is still yet to sign a new deal with Mercedes, despite running out of contract at the end of the season","video":[]},"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_robots":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_facebook_title":"","rank_math_facebook_description":"","rank_math_facebook_image":"","rank_math_twitter_title":"","rank_math_twitter_description":"","rank_math_twitter_image":"","rank_math_snippet_shortcode":"","rank_math_primary_category":"","rankmath_seo":{"focus_keyword":"","description":"","title":"","canonical_url":"","robots":"","facebook":{"title":"","description":"","image":""},"twitter":{"title":"","description":"","image":""}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/495375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495375"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/495375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495383,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/495375\/revisions\/495383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495375"},{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=495375"},{"taxonomy":"gn_keywords","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gn_keywords?post=495375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}