George Russell wanted to own a real Formula 1 car – but Mercedes rejected the request – The reason is the FIA’s strict financial regulations
George Russell has revealed that he made a rather unusual request during his recent contract negotiations with Mercedes. The Brit, who extended his contract with the Brackley-based team until the end of the 2025 season and will drive alongside Kimi Antonelli in 2026, wanted to secure a very special souvenir.
The 27-year-old is keen to expand his private car collection. His dream car, the Mercedes-AMG One, is already in his garage. So it stands to reason that Russell tried to negotiate a real Grand Prix car as part of his new contract. But this wish remained unfulfilled.
The problem with the budget cap
“I would love to collect my own Formula 1 cars,” Russell explains to Auto Motor und Sport. The catch, however, is the financial regulations of the premier class.
“But because of the cost cap, we only produce three or four monocoques per year,” Russell continues. He draws a comparison with earlier times: “Twenty years ago, when unlimited testing was still allowed, each team built 15 to 20 chassis. These were then regularly swapped out.”
For the Mercedes driver, the negotiations ended disappointingly on this point. “I tried to get a Formula 1 car during my last contract negotiations. But unfortunately, I was unsuccessful,“ he admits openly.
Russell calls for exception for chassis production
In order to perhaps still get one of the Silver Arrows in the future, Russell proposes an adjustment to the rules. ”I would like to see the teams find a way to produce monocoques outside the budget cap,” he adds.
After all, there would be no shortage of other components. “We have enough of the other parts. Each driver has five engines per year. I believe Mercedes produces a total of 60 engines for each season,” Russell calculates. There are no bottlenecks in aerodynamics either: “We also have plenty of rear wings – for high, medium, and low downforce.
There are also enough front wings and underbodies. We have at least ten sets of all the other parts.“
The bottleneck lies solely in the heart of the car: ”But there are only three or four monocoques. Maybe I should talk to the FIA, the world motorsport governing body, about that.”
Russell had a solid sporting year in 2025: He finished the season in fourth place in the drivers’ standings, behind world champion Lando Norris and his rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. With the new regulations coming into force in 2026, Russell now hopes to reshuffle the deck – even if he has to make do without his own Formula 1 car in the garage for the time being.
