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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed his disappointment with the 2025 F1 Saudi Arabian GP, as the team failed to perform at the top for the first time this season. George Russell had mentioned struggles with the grip throughout the weekend, which gave their race away.
Jeddah turned out to be a difficult turf for the Brackley-based outfit, who have been competing for podiums and running second-fastest this season so far. Russell, who has remained extremely consistent since the season started, failed to showcase the pace he had in earlier races.
"Clearly our worst performance so far from the year. The pace just dropped away with a blistering tyre and overheating tyres, and so far we haven’t got the explanations," Toto Wolff said after the race (via F1).
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Both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were overtaken by Lando Norris, who started in P10, and they failed to catch up with the competition. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was also able to extend his first stint and later get ahead of Russell for the last place on the podium during the final laps of the race. Considering that the team has been the second-fastest in the season so far, it was a challenging day for Mercedes.
"Today we saw [a gap] against Ferrari and Max [Verstappen] also. So that’s why that was an additional negative that when you kind of manage your expectations by being second quickest – and even that is not obviously what we would wish to achieve – and then you see this race coming, panning out like it did, it just adds to the frustration of the situation," Wolff added.
At the end of the day, George Russell finished in P5, and his rookie teammate settled for P6.
Mercedes boss praises rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli for his consistent performances
Kimi Antonelli hopped in the Mercedes this season as Lewis Hamilton's replacement. Being the youngest driver on the grid at 18 years of age, he wasn't expected to be battling at the front of the grid right away, however, he has impressed many on the grid.
The Italian has managed to pull in point-scoring finishes in four of the five races of the season so far, with a personal best P4 in Australia. Commenting on his performance, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff sounded optimistic. He mentioned being satisfied with Antonelli's consistent performance.
"I’m really happy the trajectory is right,” Wolff said. “There haven’t been any kamikaze movement[s]. He’s been consistently learning over the weekends."
"He’s been, interestingly, always very fast when it comes to the end of the weekend, and it seems he gets on top of the car, on top of how to drive the tyres. And it is 100% on target."
Mercedes has a strong lineup this season and is in contention to battle for the Constructors' Championship. The team stands second to McLaren in the lead with 111 points in their bag. Meanwhile, the latter is leading the table with 188 points.
