Russell promises ‘significant changes’ from Mercedes in 2025 as he praises ‘great work’ by new team mate Antonelli

George Russell is confident that Mercedes have made a “significant change” for 2025, with the Briton praising the work done by the squad – as well as new team mate Kimi Antonelli – in trying to avoid “traps” that they have fallen into during previous years.

The Silver Arrows have struggled to recapture their previous dominant form across the past few seasons, having experienced issues with their car including bouncing. But ahead of the new campaign, Russell believes that the outfit have learned from their mistakes.

Asked during a media session ahead of the F1 75 Live event about how much of a step he was expecting from 2024, the 27-year-old responded: “I think it’s going to be a significant change this year, to be honest. I think every year we’ve uncovered a problem, we’ve solved it and it’s created a new one, and we’ve probably been a lot more disciplined with every change that we’ve made.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 18: George Russell of Great Britain and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team — Russell and Antonelli were speaking in the build-up to F1 75 Live in London

“We’ve been more thorough than ever in terms of the simulator, just to ensure that we’re not going to fall into a new trap, and so far it’s a reasonable step. Obviously you’ve no idea what everyone else is doing and it’s going to be quite an interesting season with how people deploy the resources between ’25 and ’26.”

Pushed on why it has taken so long for the team to adapt more robust processes – and if he is confident that the problems of the past have definitely been eliminated – Russell reflected further on what has previously been the issue.

“I think in 2022 there were more issues with the car than first met the eye,” he explained. “Everything was dominated by bouncing, and we couldn’t unpick what was bouncing and what were poor characteristics within the car.

Why you should be excited for the 2025 season

“It took a good 18 months to solve the bouncing. Now we recognise we had a bit of a problem with the suspension, we changed the suspension, then that caused the balance problem. These things, it does just take time.

“I think when something clicks and something works you sometimes don’t know quite why that is. We went to Vegas last year and dominated – I would love to tell you exactly why that is. We’ve got some ideas why that could be, but there’s not a silver bullet saying that is the reason why you were so strong there and that is the reason you were so weak elsewhere, and I think that’s the case for everyone.

“Even McLaren are a prime example – I don’t think even they believed they could find the performance that they did. I’m more confident this year and with the work we’ve done in the sim – we’ve got some really great simulator drivers putting in lots of effort, Kimi’s been doing some really great work as well. I’m much more confident we’re not going to fall into a trap as in previous years.”