When Lewis Hamilton introduced his bombshell transfer to Ferrari for 2025, Mercedes finally turned to its personal ranks by successfully handing George Russell the function of main the crew ahead, whereas the squad accelerated its programme round junior phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli to arrange the Italian teenager for an sooner than deliberate F1 debut.
Of their first yr collectively, it has been tough to gauge Mercedes’ relative efficiency in comparison with its rivals, with crew chief Toto Wolff calling the W16 a “shock field” that yielded two wins but additionally loads of mediocre weekends. What did not assist was a suspension replace that led the crew astray for a number of weeks, earlier than the Brackley squad reverted to its baseline.
However amid that fluctuating type, what reduce via was how Mercedes was vindicated in its resolution to again Russell. Now correctly being the ‘man of the home’ following Hamilton’s departure, Russell has by all accounts taken one other step ahead to cement that function.
Russell’s qualifying prowess was by no means doubtful after besting Hamilton over one lap throughout their time collectively, however he has coupled that with metal and composure below stress, making his wins in Canada and Singapore look routine.
“He is been formidable this yr. I have never seen errors,” Wolff stated. “There have been weekends that he himself stated, I may have executed extra and I wasn’t a very good race. However this occurs with any driver. However you possibly can see when it simply merges, the automobile being in an ideal area, and the motive force being up to the mark, that turns into a dominant method, and that’s what we have seen right here.”
George Russell has seamlessly stepped into Lewis Hamilton’s footwear at Mercedes
Photograph by: George Russell/Lewis Hamilton
It is a far cry from Russell’s race ending mistake two years in the past, when he touched the wall chasing down Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren man Lando Norris for the win.
“I feel we have seen these moments previously, however not just lately,” Wolff stated. “And that is the step up that he is made additionally this yr, that these items do not occur once more.”
Russell concurred: “I am a really completely different driver right this moment to the one I used to be a few years in the past, and I really feel extra full, extra assured. I do know precisely what I must do in given circumstances. I really feel able to struggle for a championship. I really feel able to take it to my subsequent step.”
When questioned by Motorsport.com on what precisely has modified since 2023, he replied: “I feel it comes with expertise, simply realizing the way to maximise each state of affairs. In all probability a few years in the past I used to be driving a bit extra tense and over-pushing in circumstances after I shouldn’t have been. Now I simply really feel rather more relaxed.
“When it was raining an hour earlier than the race, I simply stated: ‘You already know, it’s what it’s. It’s the identical for everyone. There’s nothing I can do, so there’s no level stressing about it.’ I feel myself a number of years in the past would have been barely completely different.”
Coping with the Verstappen noise
That does not imply Russell’s continued function as de facto crew chief was fully uncontested, as Wolff held exploratory conversations with Max Verstappen’s entourage in the course of the nadir of the Milton Keynes squad’s 2025 hunch.
Russell placed on a courageous face in public, saying it was solely regular for Mercedes to discover a cope with one of the best driver out there, and whereas he stated he would not be the one making means, it nonetheless would have challenged his standing on the crew after just one season.
“I do not take that personally, as a result of I made it clear from the start, I am pleased to be team-mates with anyone,” Russell stated, boosted by his profitable stint alongside seven-time world champion Hamilton. “Whoever my team-mate will likely be, it would not concern me both.”
Photograph by: Shameem Fahath / Motorsport Community
However the Verstappen exploration and the next delays in getting Russell’s contract over the road did emphasise the weird state of affairs of Russell being managed by Wolff and Mercedes, so subsequently not absolutely being accountable for his personal future.
Now the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted, the precise size of Russell’s new deal will not be public, however it might not be a shock if there was nonetheless loads of flexibility baked in. Mercedes is tipped to return out of the gates swinging in F1’s new guidelines period subsequent yr, which may nonetheless make the crew a sexy proposition for the likes of Verstappen if Crimson Bull misses the mark.
However chatting with Motorsport.com earlier this summer season, Russell added that flexibility “ought to work each methods”, as he wouldn’t need his fingers to be absolutely tied if the alternative state of affairs occurred and extra aggressive choices emerged down the road.
That is why he wasn’t essentially craving long-term stability both. “The primary precedence is having a world championship successful automobile, and I need that to be with Mercedes,” Russell stated. “I feel drivers who’re chasing long run offers really feel they want that safety.
“I’ve by no means had a long run deal, and I do not want a long run deal, as a result of it ought to all the time be about efficiency. And if I am not performing, the crew should not be tied in with me. That is so simple as that.”
If Mercedes does discover its means again to title-contesting methods, Russell will lastly get the chance he has been chasing for thus lengthy, having joined the crew simply when its powers waned initially of the ground-effect period. Seeing his former F2 rival Lando Norris struggle for the championship has solely made his need to get that very same likelihood extra acute.
“I am undoubtedly extra hungry than ever,” Russell instructed Motorsport.com. “I might have hoped that by now, seven seasons in, I might have no less than had a yr of preventing for a championship. Once I joined Mercedes, we thought yearly can be a championship struggle. Sadly, it hasn’t turned out that means.
“Arguably, no person would have predicted two years in the past that McLaren would have made this step. Lando did 5 years with them and had no struggle both. So you’ve got simply acquired to just accept the truth that that’s the nature of F1. That is all the time been the case. And also you have a look at Michael Schumacher, he was in his fifth yr with Ferrari, in his 30s, earlier than he gained a championship with them. I am 27, so I’ve nonetheless acquired a little bit of time on the facet.”
Antonelli will get used to life in F1
On the opposite facet of the storage, there have been no doubts over Antonelli’s prolonged keep for a while now both. However formal affirmation the 19-year-old will keep the place he’s will likely be a shot within the arm to the younger Italian, who has been launched to the whirlwind of being an F1 driver the exhausting means.
Wolff by no means disputed that he dealt Antonelli a brutal hand, first by placing him into the automobile for FP1 at Monza final yr, which resulted in a crash after what had been a mesmerisingly fast lap.
Then there was the total expertise of being posted on motorsport’s frontlines sooner than he had ever dreamed of, struggling to deal with the eye and vitality round his homecoming in Imola whereas being all misplaced at sea resulting from Mercedes’ maligned rear suspension faux-pas.
That growth sidestep, and the fact of F1’s extraordinarily tight subject, has solely made Antonelli’s inevitable rookie errors appear greater and extra consequential than they’d have been in different years. However after fiercely defending Antonelli in public, Wolff tried a distinct tactic in Monza and gave his wonderkid extra of a chilly shoulder, calling his efficiency “underwhelming”.
Antonelli began from pole within the Miami GP dash
Photograph by: James Sutton / Motorsport Photos
Antonelli responded nicely to the problem with stronger weekends and high 5 finishes in Baku and Singapore, including to his maiden podium in Montreal and dash pole in Miami that offered Mercedes with sufficient proof that its selection to advertise Antonelli was not a mistake.
“He is proven us sufficient within the early a part of the season to verify our expectations that he had the expertise to be in F1 and be with Mercedes,” stated trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.
“We have upped the quantity of preparation that we’re doing, attempting various things when it comes to preparing for the race weekends going into these remaining races. And we’ll simply maintain reviewing till we get it proper.”
Antonelli will now get to take action with out having to look over his shoulder, as Mercedes sticks to what the true plan has been all alongside. To get Antonelli’s rookie blues out of the way in which and guarantee he’s absolutely prepared for F1’s 2026 period, when Mercedes plans to take him and Russell to new heights.
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