Mercedes and George Russell reportedly very optimistic about the team's first car since Lewis Hamilton's departure

It will be the first time in 12 years that Mercedes will not have Lewis Hamilton by their side during their car launch, and George Russell will have to take up the senior driver role this time around. While the team finished a subpar fourth in the championship, reports from Brackley have emerged mentioning that the German giant is content with the initial performance figures from the W16.

Mercedes won four races last year. The victories were evenly split among the team's driver lineup, but the 26-year-old outperformed his much more senior teammate, who was destined to join Ferrari. With Hamilton joining the prancing horses, the German giant's star driver was practically lost after finishing a dull fourth in the championship for the first time in over a decade.

However, according to It.motorsport.com, the engineers in Brackley are happy with the initial performance figures. This would aid George Russell in the upcoming season as he is now the lead driver with Kimi Antonelli, who is understood to take some time to get up to speed with F1 cars.

Mercedes will showcase their livery for W16 at the F1 75 event in London and take the car for a shakedown run a week later in Bahrain. Both Russell and Antonelli will split their duties during the shakedown run.

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George Russell opens up on Mercedes' charge to the front

George Russell at the Formula 1 Testing in Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty

George Russell joined Mercedes in 2022 and has never had a car capable of participating in championships. Moreover, he was only able to claim three victories since his debut with the team and wants to bring back the championship glory to Brackley.

Reflecting on the 2025 season and the challenges it may put forth, Russell said (via Sky Sports):

"There have been a lot of… I wouldn’t say changes directly from last year to this year, these are things that have been in the pipeline for a long time, items that we couldn’t quite put on the car in 2024 but we’ve been working on them for a long time."

The Mercedes driver further added about how he is ready to fight for the championship with the right machinery and said:

"If the car is there, yeah, absolutely I feel ready. Everybody in the team is so motivated and I feel that these years, you know it's sort of been trial and error but every time we've had a chance to win we've won. And that's what gives me the optimism that if we do have the car, we can achieve it. So, you know we're working as hard as we can for it to be this year."

The 2025 season will begin on March 16 at the Australian Grand Prix, where George Russell DNFed out of the race last time around and will be hoping to get his redemption this time.