George Russell details his F1 shortcomings “at the forefront” of his targets heading into 2025 season

Mercedes driver George Russell recently discussed what his goals are as he goes into the new F1 season this year. While Russell admits that these goals may not be evident to his supporters, they are areas of improvement that have been on the top of his mind as he goes into 2025. While the British driver has said that he wants to focus on improving his race pace after his strong qualifying performances last year, he is keeping some goals private.

In an interview released by Mercedes, Russell discusses his time being back with the team in Brackley, their new sponsor in the form of Adidas, and his goals for the new year. While he discussed that his goals are the same as last year and winning races is a priority, no number of wins would be satisfactory enough. The 26-year-old also talked about his strengths from the 2024 season, as well as building on them.

“I tend to keep my goals on more details targets. Last year Qualifying was my strength, but my race pace was not always the best. I know I have the speed over one lap but there is no reason why I should not be able to convert that over the course of a race," he said.

“I need to work on some elements to achieve that, and there will be some other goals – that perhaps are not clear to the fans at home but are at the forefront of mind," the driver added.

While George Russell qualified in a Top-three starting place eight times last year, he only secured two wins and four podium finishes. His two wins in one season this past year is a new career record, adding to his single win from the 2022 season giving him a total of three career victories in F1.

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George Russell expects new teammate to keep him on his toes

George Russell speaks at the Fan Forum with a photo of himself and future teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli before the Sprint Race of the Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix - Source: Getty

The 2025 season marks George Russell's fifth season with Mercedes, and he will be joined by new teammate Kimi Antonelli. For the first time since the Brit joined the Brackley-based team, he will be the more experienced driver, since the departure of seven-time Drivers' champion Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari.

Speaking in October 2024 about his upcoming partnership with the 18-year-old, Russell had conveyed his excitement, as well as his awareness of how competitive he will have to be to race against the young driver. He said [via F1]:

“But Kimi’s exceptionally fast and I’ve got no doubt he’s going to be really keeping me on my toes next year, and I’m really looking forward to a new challenge. Three years working with Lewis has been exceptional, but I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do together from next year onwards.”

The first look at the 2025 Mercedes car will take place at the F1 75 event in London on February 18th. George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and team boss, Toto Wolff, will be at the event for the reveal.