Mercedes chief Toto Wolff confirmed he is keen on signing Max Verstappen from Red Bull for the 2026 season.

George Russell said on Thursday that he believes talks between Mercedes and the Dutchman are delaying the team from offering him a new contract.

The Brit, who has just one year left on his current deal, and Kimi Antonelli are Mercedes' options in 2025.

Last year, Wolff had publicly shared his interest in bringing in Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton's switch to Ferrari was confirmed, though nothing came to fruition.

But when asked on Friday about Russell's comments and if Mercedes had plans to replace either of their drivers with the four-time world champion, Wolff said: "I like what George says, and I'm always supportive of the driver. There is no such thing as saying things I wouldn't want him to say.

"We are very transparent in the team for what we do, what we plan, and we've been like that since I was put in charge. That's not the issue.

"At the moment, clearly you need to explore what's happening in the future, but it doesn't change anything of what I said before about George, about Kimi, about the line-up that I'm extremely happy having."

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Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull through to 2028, though reports suggest he has clauses in his deal that could allow him to make an early departure.

When pushed on whether he could potentially set a deadline for Verstappen to decide on joining Mercedes, Wolff confirmed talks were ongoing.

"You make it sound like we have been asking, 'when do you want to join and what are the terms?' That's not how it is and how it works," Wolff added.

"I want to just have the conversations behind closed doors, not town halls.

"We have two drivers that have been in our programme a long time, drivers that I'm perfectly happy to have, drivers that will do great in the future of the team. So, it's a bit different a situation."

Verstappen finished third in Friday's second practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix, just behind the McLarens, while Russell was down in sixth.

The 27-year-old, who is the most successful driver in Austria, having won four titles, was working with a different race engineer on Friday, but remained quietly optimistic about his chances this weekend after finishing just 0.318 seconds behind pace-setter Lando Norris.

"Overall, today was quite straightforward, and we didn't have any big issues," he said.

"In terms of pace, we had a bit too much understeer in the car on the short run and the long run, so that is something that we have to try and get rid of ahead of.

"I think so far, [practice] has been really good with Simon [Rennie]. I have known him for a long time on the other side of the garage. He has a lot of experience, so it has been very, very good. He is straight up, and it was nice."