Team Mercedes: 2025 F1 Season Preview and Predictions

Mercedes is heading into a season without Lewis Hamilton as one of the drivers for the first time since 2012. The German team built a legacy with the 7x world champion, which will continue to be a part of the history. Fast forward to the present, and the German team would have a young teenage sensation in one of the cars.

Going from a team with one of the drivers close to 40 years of age to a team with one of the drivers being a teenager is a drastic shift. This team has not had the best of runs in the ground effect era, as there has been a lack of understanding of the concept.

The team still won four races last season and got a handful of podiums. What can we expect from the team as it embarks on a new journey without Lewis Hamilton? Let's take a look.

Biggest strength

No matter how strange it sounds, losing Lewis Hamilton might just be a blessing for Mercedes in 2025. For the first time in a while, this team does not have that massive question mark in the room. This is the first time that Toto Wolff would be heading into a season without having to answer 'whether the team has a car that can win Hamilton his 8th title.'

A huge burden is lifted off the shoulders of this team, and the focus is just on doing a good job, as it goes into a new era. For them, arguably, the biggest strength has to be that Mercedes can just be focused on trying to get back on top following a process without the undue pressure of trying to win quickly.

Biggest weakness

It has to be the team's lack of understanding of new regulations. Mercedes is arguably the only team, out of the top 4, that has struggled big time in understanding and predicting how the car would behave on different tracks.

Last season, the team turned up in Las Vegas and dominated the entire weekend. The ironic bit was when it was questioned why it was this competitive. The team had no answer as to what it had changed to make the car this good.

If Mercedes could address this major weakness, and there is reason to believe it can, it could make a step forward in the pecking order.

Mercedes driver expectations

George Russell

This has to be the season, where George Russell truly steps up and becomes the team leader at Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton has left, and it's up to Russell to take over the mantle. The 2024 F1 season showed that the driver has ironed out a lot of mistakes that hurt his final results, but there is still some work to be done.

For 2025, we can expect George to be the benchmark at Mercedes. If the car is capable of fighting for the title, one can back Russell to get it done as well.

Kimi Antonelli

What one hopes Kimi Antonelli can achieve in his first season is to be a breath of fresh air. Here's a driver who is nothing more than a teenager with tons of talent. When someone like this makes his F1 debut, you want them to just express themselves on the track.

Maybe he'd make a mistake or two, but what would be awesome to see is if he does mix things up with Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen once in a while and how he handles that pressure. In terms of realistic expectations, we might see a few flashes of brilliance from Kimi.

Antonelli's first season might feature a few crashes here and there and a few moments that would make people question whether he should be in F1. But then, there would be enough performances where he turns heads and people take notice of his talent.

Early 2025 predictions

The 2025 F1 season could see Mercedes put on a better show than 2024. The team should win a few races this season, and we could see the driver be the dark horse in the championship battle.

It's hard to pick where the team or the drivers would finish in the championship. One thing is for certain: this would be a freer version of Mercedes that makes a step forward in the championship and gets closer to the top than it has been since 2021.