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Nico Rosberg has accused Christian Horner of attempting to unsettle Mercedes by ‘throwing a knife’ at Toto Wolff.

Horner hinted that Red Bull would be interested in signing Mercedes driver George Russell, who only has a year remaining on his Silver Arrows contract.

“We’ve got a gap now but we just want to take time to consider what do those options look like for the future,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.

“And we’re not afraid to go out of the pool. You know, George Russell is out of contract at the end of next year. It would be foolish not to take that into consideration.

“There are other talented drivers that could well be out of contract as well.”

Rosberg believes the comments were ‘politically and strategically’ motivated to unsettle Mercedes and Wolff.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, the 2016 world champion said: “It’s politics and strategy, because he wants to unsettle Toto. And if Toto suddenly hears Horner talking about Russell and Russell doesn’t have a contract, Toto might be thinking ‘oh, damn, should I be trying to get an option on on George or what?’

“And it’s unsettling. So it’s always part of the game, isn’t it?”

Rosberg added that Horner was being ‘naughty’ by mentioning Russell’s name and has placed significant pressure on his Mercedes counterpart.

“That was a bit of a knife thrown towards Toto there, I felt, because it obviously puts the pressure on Toto to make a decision,” he added.

“I mean, George doesn’t have a contract [for 2026], and so Christian could be really naughty and just try and really, you know, snatch him away from there and try and lock him in through contact already now.

“I don’t know if George would even be interested, but it does add the pressure for Toto, a comment like that.”