Mercedes started the season strongly, with George Russell scoring four podiums in the opening six races. There were murmurs that Russell could be the driver to challenge the McLaren drivers. However, after the Silver Arrows brought upgrades to the Imola GP, any hopes of a title challenge fell apart.
Mercedes went through a mid-season slump, during which Russell scored only two podiums, including a win in Canada, in seven races. Antonelli, at this time, failed to score in every race except for his podium finish in Canada.
Following another disappointing weekend in Belgium, Mercedes opted to revert to the old specification of the rear suspension in Hungary. George Russell returned to the podium, while Antonelli scored his first point in Europe this season. Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff confirmed the upgrades had failed.
Correlation error hampered Mercedes upgrades, Toto Wolff claims
Heading into Imola, Mercedes was looking strong in 2025. However, the Imola upgrades caused the Silver Arrows to take a step back as they looked to fall behind their rivals. Toto Wolff says the upgrades Mercedes brought to Imola didn’t correlate with the data from the factory.
Speaking to reporters after the Hungarian GP, Wolff commented: “Well, that rear axle will be ending up in a bin somewhere, I guess.
“Upgrades are here to bring performance, and there’s a lot of simulations and analysis that goes into putting parts in the car, and then they’re just utterly wrong. How do you bring correlation from what the digital world tells you into the real world? This is the [latest] example of how it tripped us over.
“We tried to solve a problem with the Imola upgrade, a mechanical upgrade. We came to the conclusion that it needs to go off, it went off, and the car is back to solid form.”
Mercedes will have to learn from their latest mistake as their focus shifts towards the 2026 car. The 2026 season is a blank slate with the new regulation cycle set to take effect. Mercedes is predicted to have the most powerful engine, so they need to create a car to complement the power unit.
What can we expect from Mercedes for the rest of the season?
Mercedes looked to have fixed many issues on their car from the season before. George Russell was optimistic that the W16 was a good car, and his early-season results backed up his claims. Kimi Antonelli was also regularly scoring points as Mercedes looked to have the second-fastest car on the grid.
The Imola upgrades have severely dented Russell’s campaign and have left Mercedes third in the constructors’ championship. However, the season isn’t lost for Mercedes and Russell.
💬 “The Hungaroring was pretty strong, in terms of raw pace. We hope that we can continue with that momentum into the second half of the year.”
Looking back on the season so far with Toto – watch the full video 👇
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) August 6, 2025
McLaren has all but won the constructors’ championship. While their two drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, are the only two championship protagonists, Russell could be the ‘best of the rest’ driver. This would signify an improvement from 2024, when Russell finished sixth in the standings as Mercedes lacked pace over the season.
A positive finish for the drivers and Mercedes would give them good confidence going into the 2026 season. The Silver Arrows will be pleased to see the back of the ground-effect era, where the team has struggled to adapt to the regulations. However, with the new cycle incoming, and a positive end ot the season, morale will be high as they look to end a barren four years.
