Russell reveals why Mercedes efforts make them dark horses for 2025 – Formula One has in recent years become somewhat predictable although there have been bright spots of high drama. The climax to the 2021 season was one of the most epic in living memory as Max Verstappen had to deny off a resurgent Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
The seven ties champion won against the odds the three Grand Prix prior to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, to set up what proved to be a cliff hanger finish to the year as the drivers title was decided on the last lap of the last race of the year.
2024 also delivered its fair share of excitement as Red Bull and Verstappen suffered a ten consecutive F1 weekend drought of wins whilst Lando Norris and McLaren were closing in to challenge for the championships.
F1 dominance to end?
For those fans of McLaren, 2024 ended on a huge high as the second oldest team in F1 broke its quarter of a century long wait to win the constructors’ title. This moved the Woking based outfit into second on the all time list of such winners alongside Williams with nine an ahead of Mercedes with their eight.
Mercedes were in fact the very latest team to demonstrate F1’s predictability winning a record eight consecutive team titles from 2014-2021 and before them it was Red Bull who dominated with Sebastian Vettel as they claimed four consecutive double championship winning years.
In fact over the last fifteen years, just four drivers have become F1 world champion and three teams have carved up the other F1 prize, with Mercedes racking up eight wins, Red Bull six and McLaren the latest in 2024.
Yet the signs for the future are positive as the cost cap continues to level the playing field together with the handicap system which penalises the more successful teams in terms of reducing disproportionately their aero testing time. The smaller teams’ liveries are now littered with sponsors as global interest grows in the sport. Williams even announced mid-way through last summer they were closing the book on future partners for now as their strategy was to add more value to the ones they already have.
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After their un precedented success, Mercedes have suffered the inevitable fall from grace. Even in the world of Formula One empires come and go as Ferrari and Michael Schumacher proved around the turn of the millennium.
Despite Max Verstappen claiming his fourth consecutive title, the genius of a once in a generation driver should not be confused with how close the race has become amongst the top three teams, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren and now Mercedes after three years in the wilderness are pushing hard to return to the front of the grid, with a. number of F1 veteran observers having home as their dark horse pick for the upcoming campaign in 2025.
In a W15 Silver arrows F1 car, Russel picked up two Grand Prix wins last year and was denied a third because the team failed to ensure his car was not under weight at the Belgium Grand Prix held at the epic circuit which is Spa Francorchamps. His team mate Lewis Hamilton inherited the victory, proving that on their day Mercedes were a match for anyone.
The problems the eight times world champions have been suffering stem from them failing to get to grips with the all new car design regulations which came into force back in 2022. Yet their four last season, of which two were dominant, proved their car is indeed as quick as the other title contenders but its operating window has been too small for the trackside team to nail the setup for each and every Grand Prix weekend.
Mercedes fast! Russell optimistic for 2025
George Russell believes these performance demonstrate Mercedes are indeed on the right track to improve their consistency form week to week, hinting that if the Mercedes is fast, wins will come. Speaking to Sky F1 he now reveals, “I feel ready. Everybody in the team is so motivated. I feel these [last three] years have been trial and error,” said Russell.
“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. We’re working as hard as we can for it to be this year, but everybody is fully onboard.”
The departure of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari means George Russell will be racing alongside a new team mate this year. Kimi Antonelli is believed by Toto Wolff to be the next big thing in Formula One and the Mercedes boss make the brave call to bring the young Italian straight into F1 with a top team, rather than place him with another F1 competitor further back on the grid.
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Wolff eyes Verstappen/Antonelli combo
Having been offered the services of the young Max Verstappen prior to him joining Red Bull, Wolff was terrified should he make Antonelli wait any longer, he would be snatched up by another F1 team as happened with the impressive Franco Colapinto.
Russells future at Mercedes could be up in the air come the end of this season, given Mercedes have yet to renew his contract despite losing Lewis Hamilton a year earlier than anticipated. Of course much will depend on how the W16 performs on track, but Russell could ironically find himself the object of interest from Red Bull Racing should their latest junior driver fail, as have done all the others since Max Verstappen was promoted to the senior Milton Keynes based racing team.
The conundrum faced by Russell is heightened following the big deal his boss made last year when chasing Max Verstappen around the paddock, pen and contract in hand and his tongue hanging out.
Wolff was nothing if not persistent and despite his confidence in Antonelli as a future champion he even offered Max Verstappen’s mentor – Dr. Helmut Marko – a job at Mercedes to fill the boots of the sadly late departed Niki Lauda.
Verstappen/Russell switch?
Having failed to nail down Hamilton for more than single season in the last round of contract negotiations, Toto Wolff has a problem on his hands over the future of his lead driver, George Russell. What does he in fact do should Max Verstappen become disillusioned with his Red Bull team?
Any team in their right mind would make way for the current world champion should he become a free agent, then which of his drivers would Wolff force to make way for the flying Dutchman? If Kimi Antonelli doesn’t prove to enjoy similar success to that of Franco Colapinto in his nine GP weekends at the back end of last year, then Wolff’s decision becomes less difficult.
He could find him a seat elsewhere for a couple of seasons until he achieves the level of experience which Russell had when he stepped up from Williams to the Mercedes team in 2022. But should Antonelli tear it up in 2025 and Verstappen decide he looks better in a silver race suit, Toto will be reaching for the extra strong aspirin or something even stronger.
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Length of contract negotiations ‘the key’
Veteran F1 writer John Noble addresses this potential – if unlikely scenario – of Verstappen deciding the all new Mercedes power unit for 2026 will dominate as did their previous one at the last big rule change. “Would Red Bull even swoop for him [Russell] if it felt that it was going to lose Verstappen, as he is potentially the best race-winning prospect available if it needed someone suitable to slot in?”
Toto Wolff’s perception of the future will soon be crystallised as Kimi Antonelli makes his way in F1 across the opening flyaway races of the year. The clue to whether he believes the Verstappen/Antonelli combination has any hope of coming to fruition will be whether Russell signs an extension to his contract before the summer break.
Were Mercedes to repeat the saga over Hamilton’s extended contract negotiations in 2023 – which he clearly was unhappy with giving he picked the phone up to Ferrari just weeks after the ink on his ‘multi-year’ extension had been signed – Russell will know he needs a back up plan, and quick.
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F1 to become English based sport, except for Ferrari
Ferrari are the oldest and most successful Formula One team all time, yet they may soon become the only team based outside the English motorsports valley, where until recently seven of the F1 teams were based. Grand Prix racing, where F1 finds its roots, began in France as early as 1894 and quickly evolved from simple road races from one town to the next for the ‘Big Prize’ (Grand Prix), into endurance tests for both car and driver.
Open road racing though took its toll as the routes upon which the GP cars raced, remained unmodified for the high speed machines and were suitable only for the sedentary machinery which were owned by the general public. Spectators were unprotected for the speeding machines and their naivety often saw them standing on the racing routes, often not taking proper attention and being hit by the racers which caused deaths for both the drivers and their audience.
Great Britain was the first European country to ban racing on public roads and to this end the speed freaks decided to build a purpose built venue called Brooklands which opened in 1907. This was an elliptic oval circuit and the first to deploy steep banking to allow the drivers to travel at greater speeds, although the penalty for getting it wrong was the car and driver may fly outside the top of the banking ending 30 feet up in a tree, but more often just simply dead…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Don’t journalists ever check their articles? I’m sure Lewis can tie a mean Windsor knot but he is not a “SEVEN TIES CHAMPION”.