George Russell has been delivering his best Formula 1 season so far this term, yet the Mercedes star has lost his early consistency amid the Silver Arrows losing their shine.
The Briton started his 2025 campaign as the most consistent driver on the grid, having sat in the top five after every competitive session through the first six rounds. But Russell has only finished four Grands Prix and qualified for five in the top five during the seven rounds since.
Since Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix from pole position this June, the Mercedes driver also only finished the Austrian Grand Prix in P5, the British Grand Prix in P10 and the Belgian Grand Prix in P5. The 27-year-old also ranked P12 in the F1 Sprint at Spa after qualifying P13.
Russell and Mercedes’ strategic errors cost them in the British GP, having pitted for dry tyres while Silverstone was too wet to get off the intermediate rubber. But Mercedes were baffled by their pace deficit to McLaren in the Belgian GP, having run nearly a second per lap slower.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesF1 paddock figures blame Mercedes’ lack of pace on the FIA’s flexi front wing clampdown
Their woes in the Ardennes forest last weekend even left Mercedes holding a crisis meeting ahead of this week’s Hungarian Grand Prix to explain why Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli struggled badly at the Belgian GP. The cooler conditions at Spa should have suited their car.
Position Constructors’ Standings PointsPts 1 516 2 248 3 220 4 192
Mercedes sat second in the F1 constructors’ standings with a 16-point lead over Ferrari after Russell secured their sole win of the 2025 F1 season so far in the Canadian GP. But they now trail the Scuderia by 28 in the scrap for second place, with leaders McLaren 296 points clear.
And Motorsport.com reports that Mercedes suspect Russell’s victory as Antonelli sealed his debut F1 podium in the Canadian GP led their engineers ‘astray’ over the true effectiveness of the rear suspension update they revised in Montreal, having debuted the set-up at Imola.
Mercedes’ rear suspension upgrade in Canada may have masked some of their W16’s issues that have become more evident over the three rounds since. But ‘some in the paddock’ also believe Mercedes are still paying the price after the FIA’s clampdown on flexible front wings.
The FIA tightened the front wing rules at the Spanish Grand Prix, where Russell came P4 and Antonelli retired with an engine failure. The permitted flex was cut from 15 to 10mm when the load is applied to both sides of the wing, and from 20 to 15mm when applied to just one side.
What has George Russell said about the FIA’s flexible front wing clampdown hurting Mercedes?
Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Russell appeared to confirm the suspicions that some in the F1 paddock hold about the FIA clamping down on flexible front wings hurting Mercedes at the Belgian GP last weekend. He also stated that Mercedes have taken a ‘big step backwards’ since introducing a new design.
Mercedes debuted their modified front wing to meet the FIA’s new flexi regulations at Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix one round prior to the new rules coming into force at the Spanish GP. But the Silver Arrows are still struggling for high-speed stability six rounds later.
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Russell said at Spa, via ESPN: “Obviously, we had the change of the front wing in Barcelona. We then went in a slightly different direction afterwards to sort of tackle the issue of the change of front wing. And clearly, since that point, we’ve taken a big step backwards.
“It could be as simple as just reverting back to something that we had earlier in the season. Of course, you can’t do that with the front wing, but in terms of the rest of the set-up. But I don’t know, it seems quite strange how we’ve gone so far backwards.”