Mercedes have struggled to find the right balance in 2025 as their inconsistent results have hampered them in the championship.
The Silver Arrows have generally shown stronger pace than Ferrari throughout the season, but sit 12 points behind them in third. The last few races have exposed several weaknesses in the W16.
Reliability issues have plagued Kimi Antonelli, with mechanical retirements at Imola and Barcelona. Monaco was a disaster for Mercedes as both cars were knocked out in Q2 and failed to score points.
Position Constructors’ Standings PointsPts 1 460 2 222 3 210 4 172 5 59 6 41 7 36 8 36 9 29 10 19
George Russell claimed his first win of 2025 in Canada after taking pole position, with Antonelli grabbing his maiden podium with third. That result is the only points finish from the Italian in the last six races, and his teammate has not capitalised on the momentum from his victory.
Russell scored just 11 points in the last two events, as he lacked the pace of the frontrunners in Austria. At Silverstone, the performance was not too bad, but Mercedes made an error with strategy as they went onto slick tyres too early in the wet conditions.
Martin Brundle says Mercedes lacked ‘common sense’ as Russell could only manage 10th while Isack Hadjar took out Antonelli. The Brackley outfit come into the second half of the season in need of change.
Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesGary Anderson tells Toto Wolff to stop saying George Russell’s car doesn’t like the heat when no progress is made
Mercedes have pointed towards the same issue in 2025, with Toto Wolff stating that the W16 does not operate as well in hot conditions, as well as in long corners and abrasive track surfaces. Yet the team have made little progress to mitigate these problems.
Heading into the Belgian Grand Prix, where the Silver Arrows will bring upgrades, Gary Anderson has told Wolff to stop saying the car does not like the heat. Speaking to The Race, he says it is ‘no good’ saying it when Mercedes are not improving the issue, as seen by their results.
“Mercedes is third in the performance rankings and in the constructors’ championship, so you could argue it has achieved what the car is capable of. However, the randomness of its results are something that needs to be looked at closely.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 234 2 226 3 165 4 147 5 119 6 103 7 63 8 46 9 37 10 23
“Mercedes and George Russell dominated in Montreal, but then two weeks later were nowhere at the Red Bull Ring – although Silverstone was OK until that was thrown away by going to slicks too early.
“Mercedes is nowhere near as confident as McLaren when it comes to finding a development direction. This shows that whatever it is doing in the simulation programme is a bit off-kilter.
“All of these exotic pieces of kit like driver in the loop simulators are great, but they are only as good as the inputs. Sometimes you need someone with a gut feel to question the outputs.
“Team principal Toto Wolff keeps saying that the car doesn’t like the heat, abrasive track surfaces and long corners. If you know the problems they need to be solved and it’s no good just repeating the need to do that if you don’t make any progress.”
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Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty ImagesThe issues and concerns surrounding Mercedes’ upgrades at the Belgian Grand Prix
The next double header at Spa and Budapest will be critical for Mercedes before the summer break. They will bring updates to the W16 at both races.
However, concerns are already being raised about the new packages. ‘Indications’ suggest Mercedes’ upgrades will not be McLaren-beaters, with the car not capable of winning races consistently or challenging the Woking outfit.
What’s more is that Mercedes will have a ‘challenge’ validating the upgrades in Belgium as it is a Sprint weekend. Russell and Antonelli will have just one practice session to get accustomed to the new parts before being thrown straight into Sprint qualifying.
Mercedes will be desperate to find the right operating window with the car and start putting some consistent results together. This will be especially felt by the drivers, with Russell and Antonelli out of contract in 2025.