Mercedes returned to the podium for the first time in four rounds, as George Russell sealed third place in the 2025 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix for his sixth rostrum this year.
The Silver Arrows endured a sombre stretch after Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix from pole position back in June, while rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli also had his debut F1 podium in P3. Russell also gave Mercedes their sole pole and win of the 2025 F1 season in Montreal.
Neither Russell nor Antonelli could build on their performances in the Great White North, as Mercedes struggled across the Grands Prix in Austria, Britain and Belgium. But after finishing fifth at the Red Bull Ring and Spa plus P10 at Silverstone, Russell got P3 in the Hungarian GP.
Ferrari star Charles Leclerc’s likely skid plank wear issues in the Hungarian GP helped to see Russell return to the rostrum. But Antonelli could only finish P10 at the Hungaroring after he qualified P15, for the 18-year-old’s second points-paying result in the last eight Grands Prix.
Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesToto Wolff admits Mercedes’ correlation problems caused their rear suspension upgrade U-turn
Another reason behind Russell’s rostrum in Budapest was that Mercedes removed their rear suspension upgrade at the Hungarian GP. Their update debuted at Imola and then revived in Montreal caused instability issues, which saw the Briton and Antonelli lose their confidence.
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Position Constructors’ Standings PointsPts 1 559 2 260 3 236 4 194
Mercedes will not bring their failed rear suspension upgrade back, with team principal Wolff now suggesting that it will end up “in a bin”. The Silver Arrows chief also admits the update’s failure has shown that his Brackley bunch are yet to fix their long-term correlation problems.
Wolff explained to The Race: “Upgrades are here to bring performance, and there’s a lot of simulation and analysis that goes into putting parts on the car.
“Then they’re just utterly wrong, and you need to go back to the analogue world and put it on the car and see what it does, and it doesn’t do what it should do.
“That’s the tricky bit for everyone in Formula 1. How do you bring correlation from what the digital world tells you into the real world? That has been a feature [of Mercedes’ problems], and this is the last example of how it tripped us over.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli got his confidence in Mercedes’ W16 back without the update
Photo by James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Gary Anderson thought Mercedes’ Canadian GP rear suspension upgrade was a ‘win-win’ as it helped Russell earn their only pole and win of the season so far. The update was meant to help Mercedes control their rear tyre temperatures by increasing the anti-lift under braking.
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CategoryGeorge RussellAndrea Kimi Antonelli2025 points17264Grand Prix results140Grand Prix qualifying131Grand Prix wins10Grand Prix poles10Grand Prix podiums61Best finish1st3rdDisqualifications00Retirements02Retirements (classified finish)00Fastest laps22Grand Prix points finishes148Sprint results30Sprint Qualifying21Sprint wins00Sprint poles01Sprint podiums00The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli
But while it worked at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the upgrade caused more problems than it fixed at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Spa. So, it was not used at the Hungaroring, and will likely not be seen again after the summer break with Wolff now keen to put it “in a bin”.
Antonelli would no doubt be glad to see Mercedes throw the failed upgrade in a bin, as the 18-year-old got his confidence in the W16 back at the Hungarian GP. While he qualified P15 with a 1:16.386, he did post a 1:15.693 for P11 in Q2 which was deleted due to track limits.
“I am really happy that my confidence in the car has come back this weekend,” he said, via the F1 website. “I leave Budapest feeling much more comfortable after moving back to the previous rear suspension. Qualifying was just a shame, as the pace was clearly there.”