2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[zibby43]

This is one of the more embarrassing results I’ve ever witnessed for this team.

[erudite450]

This is one of the more embarrassing results I’ve ever witnessed for this team.

I think Germany 2019 was just as bad.

Russell's performance on the inters was strange. The Mercedes DNA always suited cold/wet weather. But he wasn't as fast as I expected. He ended up behind a snappy Ferrari.

[Matt2725]

I couldn't get my head around how Russell ended up stuck behind Gasly. Nobody else seemingly had much of an issue getting past him.

Pace was all over the shop as well in the final stint on hards. Some laps it looked ok, decent even....then others he was losing 6-7 tenths. It was bizarre.

[zibby43]

This is one of the more embarrassing results I’ve ever witnessed for this team.

I think Germany 2019 was just as bad.

Russell's performance on the inters was strange. The Mercedes DNA always suited cold/wet weather. But he wasn't as fast as I expected. He ended up behind a snappy Ferrari.

Germany 2019 was in my mind, too.

This weekend was bizarre. I’m starting to have second thoughts about their new rear suspension.

[zibby43]

I couldn't get my head around how Russell ended up stuck behind Gasly. Nobody else seemingly had much of an issue getting past him.

Pace was all over the shop as well in the final stint on hards. Some laps it looked ok, decent even....then others he was losing 6-7 tenths. It was bizarre.

Bizarre is definitely the word of the day to describe the performance/strategy/execution.

Today wasn’t Kimi’s fault but man he’s in a rough stretch right now.

[kurtj]

Kimi doesn't seem to belong in F1. Other than one fluke in Miami quali, there isn't any decent performance so far. He is trailing George by 13-1 in quali and 14-0 in races, including sprints. We have never had a highly rated rookie being humbled by his team mate like this before. Mercedes needs a better driver for 2026.

In the race, he slowed down considerably on a straight towards copse due to which Hadjar drove into him while there was poor visibility. That was dangerous.

[Macklaren]

This is one of the more embarrassing results I’ve ever witnessed for this team.

I think Germany 2019 was just as bad.

.

Germany 2019 was in my mind, too.

Every time Toto wears one of those silly hats, the team falls apart

[trinidefender]

Sorry if I missed this but just getting the chance to watch the race. What was the thinking behind putting Russel onto hards on his last stop? If they wanted to put him on slicks then why not mediums. There was only 13 laps left and mediums are softer and have a lower operating temperature range so will work better in the slightly wet conditions.

Alternatively why not wait a few more laps then put him on softs.

That decision really seemed mind boggling.

[zibby43]

Sorry if I missed this but just getting the chance to watch the race. What was the thinking behind putting Russel onto hards on his last stop? If they wanted to put him on slicks then why not mediums. There was only 13 laps left and mediums are softer and have a lower operating temperature range so will work better in the slightly wet conditions.

Alternatively why not wait a few more laps then put him on softs.

That decision really seemed mind boggling.

To be perfectly honest, I think everyone in the team is asking the same question.

My only thought could be the graining phase the Mediums deal with but that doesn't make much sense to me either.

[Lasssept]

Asked if it had been Russell’s decision, rather than the team’s, to twice box for slicks in difficult conditions, Wolff replied:

“Well, the driver is team. We're all in this together. But the first call, or the first decision from within the car and the people was terribly wrong.

“That kind of made us spiral from bad to worse, because that triggered the stop for Kimi. When you see where Kimi was running, we should have simply kept him out with a split strategy and probably we would have been where Nico Hulkenberg was (third), because he was ahead of him.

“That's not to diminish Nico's driving, which from far away looked very good. When we had the wrong tyre on the car, because we believed the medium wouldn't last with us, because Friday was so bad. Another wrong decision. And then, obviously, the second stop was probably even more wrong than the first one, and that was basically the guillotine that fell.

link

[avantman]

George Russell seem to be very weak on making tire calls in mixed conditions. Leclerc is another driver who is extremely weak in that area as well making wrong, emotional calls on tires almost every wet race.
I remember Russell making a call to put on slick in Q3 few years ago in Canada when there was a huge paddle in T1-T2. It was just a ridiculous, shocking call. I thought back then it was simply a consequence of lack of experience. Yesterday showed experience or lack thereof cannot serve as an excuse whatsoever. I am not sure which of the calls to fit dry tire was worse, probably the first one on the warm-up lap , but both very and obviously wrong and very premature. Horribly wrong.

[kurtj]

George Russell seem to be very weak on making tire calls in mixed conditions. Leclerc is another driver who is extremely weak in that area as well making wrong, emotional calls on tires almost every wet race.
I remember Russell making a call to put on slick in Q3 few years ago in Canada when there was a huge paddle in T1-T2. It was just a ridiculous, shocking call. I thought back then it was simply a consequence of lack of experience. Yesterday showed experience or lack thereof cannot serve as an excuse whatsoever. I am not sure which of the calls to fit dry tire was worse, probably the first one on the warm-up lap , but both very and obviously wrong and very premature. Horribly wrong.

If you have forgotten, he asked Mercedes not to pit him in Brazil last year, which Mercedes overrode, which otherwise, he would have won as he had good pace until then.

[avantman]

George Russell seem to be very weak on making tire calls in mixed conditions. Leclerc is another driver who is extremely weak in that area as well making wrong, emotional calls on tires almost every wet race.
I remember Russell making a call to put on slick in Q3 few years ago in Canada when there was a huge paddle in T1-T2. It was just a ridiculous, shocking call. I thought back then it was simply a consequence of lack of experience. Yesterday showed experience or lack thereof cannot serve as an excuse whatsoever. I am not sure which of the calls to fit dry tire was worse, probably the first one on the warm-up lap , but both very and obviously wrong and very premature. Horribly wrong.

If you have forgotten, he asked Mercedes not to pit him in Brazil last year, which Mercedes overrode, which otherwise, he would have won as he had good pace until then.

That's not what I was talking about specifically. It was not a call on transition to slick from wet tire or vice versa at the right moment coming from a driver based on his feel. George was betting on the red flag, because he thought the race direction would stop the race because of undrivable dangerous conditions. In fact it was a wrong call, the race was never stopped because of that. I will remind you the race was stopped only because of irresponsible driving from Colapinto who crashed in SC conditions trying to catch up the tail of the group behind the SC. In fact Mercedes decision was, in my opinion, the correct one because that tire would allow him to go much faster. It turned out to be unfortunate one, again only because of Colapinto, but it is always easy of course to say it was wrong with the benefit of hindsight. red bull and alpine got lucky, but they were in a position where they had nothing to lose. Mercedes and mclaren got unlucky, I think their call to use SC to make a cheap stop was correct because the tires were worn out heavily at that point.
So, what I'm talking about is drivers' ability to feel the grip, evaluate track conditions to make best possible calls on tire, not just gamble. Jenson Button was the best by far in that area. Famously some teams' strategist simply mirrored his calls, because they knew he would almost always get it right.
Button was in Canada '22 commenting on Sky. The moment he saw George on slick tire he said it was wrong and will never work, he said it without tiniest hesitation. Russell went off in T1 right away. it is not like it was even marginal and could or could not work. It could never work.
Similarly it could never work yesterday when he and Charles went into the pits on warm-up lap. They were actually very lucky because of the safety car, otherwise they would be much further behind after first five laps.

[Tonino]

Kimi doesn't seem to belong in F1. Other than one fluke in Miami quali, there isn't any decent performance so far. He is trailing George by 13-1 in quali and 14-0 in races, including sprints. We have never had a highly rated rookie being humbled by his team mate like this before. Mercedes needs a better driver for 2026.

In the race, he slowed down considerably on a straight towards copse due to which Hadjar drove into him while there was poor visibility. That was dangerous.

Talking rubbish again, are you on some kind of anti-Kimi crusade? The only one at fault yesterday was the overhyped Hadjar, who seems to be one of the worst drivers in the rain. He either crashes on the formation lap or plows into drivers in the race—just a disaster.

Kimi’s race yesterday was completely ruined by the team's brain-dead decision to put both cars on the completely wrong strategy. That’s what put him at the back of the grid, surrounded by rain-stricken rookies like Hadjar, who plowed into him for no reason.

Let’s recap his season so far:

* **Australia**: Damaged floor hurt his quali but he still managed to recover and finish P4, just 2 seconds behind George.
* **China**: First time at that track, did an okay job in quali and the race.
* **Japan**: Another new track for Kimi, and he did a great job. Qualified one position behind George and finished just 2 seconds behind him.
* **Bahrain**: Qualified P4, just two positions behind George, but his race was ruined by a brain-dead team strategy.
* **Saudi Arabia**: Qualified two positions behind George and finished right behind him in P6.
* **Miami**: First time at the track, outqualified George in both the sprint and race. Sprint race was ruined by a crash with Max, and in the race, both he and George were nowhere due to a very poor car.
* **Imola**: Qualifying was on him, probably due to distractions, but his race was ruined by an engine issue.
* **Monaco**: His qualifying crash was all on him, and his race was effectively useless due to it.
* **Spain**: Qualified two positions behind George. Race was ruined by another engine issue.
* **Canada**: Qualified P4 and had a fantastic race, finishing P3 just 5 seconds behind George.
* **Austria**: Poor qualifying due to the car being nowhere all weekend, also George was +0.700 off pole so whatever. Crash with Max completely on him.
* **Great Britain**: Solid qualifying, just 3 positions behind George with a car that was nowhere all weekend. His race got ruined by a brain-dead team strategy, which left him in a compromised position, leading to Hadjar crashing into him.

So, in what world does Kimi not belong in F1? You’re talking complete rubbish. Just because your favorite driver doesn’t have a contract doesn’t mean you can drag down a talented young driver. Kimi’s been performing when the car’s there, and no one expected him to come in and outpace George Russell, especially considering he’s only 18 and just two years ago was racing in freakin FRECA. Get real and stop with the nonsense.

[OverheatedTurbo]

Kimi doesn't seem to belong in F1. Other than one fluke in Miami quali, there isn't any decent performance so far. He is trailing George by 13-1 in quali and 14-0 in races, including sprints. We have never had a highly rated rookie being humbled by his team mate like this before. Mercedes needs a better driver for 2026.

In the race, he slowed down considerably on a straight towards copse due to which Hadjar drove into him while there was poor visibility. That was dangerous.

Talking rubbish again, are you on some kind of anti-Kimi crusade? The only one at fault yesterday was the overhyped Hadjar, who seems to be one of the worst drivers in the rain. He either crashes on the formation lap or plows into drivers in the race—just a disaster.

Kimi’s race yesterday was completely ruined by the team's brain-dead decision to put both cars on the completely wrong strategy. That’s what put him at the back of the grid, surrounded by rain-stricken rookies like Hadjar, who plowed into him for no reason.

Let’s recap his season so far:

* **Australia**: Damaged floor hurt his quali but he still managed to recover and finish P4, just 2 seconds behind George.
* **China**: First time at that track, did an okay job in quali and the race.
* **Japan**: Another new track for Kimi, and he did a great job. Qualified one position behind George and finished just 2 seconds behind him.
* **Bahrain**: Qualified P4, just two positions behind George, but his race was ruined by a brain-dead team strategy.
* **Saudi Arabia**: Qualified two positions behind George and finished right behind him in P6.
* **Miami**: First time at the track, outqualified George in both the sprint and race. Sprint race was ruined by a crash with Max, and in the race, both he and George were nowhere due to a very poor car.
* **Imola**: Qualifying was on him, probably due to distractions, but his race was ruined by an engine issue.
* **Monaco**: His qualifying crash was all on him, and his race was effectively useless due to it.
* **Spain**: Qualified two positions behind George. Race was ruined by another engine issue.
* **Canada**: Qualified P4 and had a fantastic race, finishing P3 just 5 seconds behind George.
* **Austria**: Poor qualifying due to the car being nowhere all weekend, also George was +0.700 off pole so whatever. Crash with Max completely on him.
* **Great Britain**: Solid qualifying, just 3 positions behind George with a car that was nowhere all weekend. His race got ruined by a brain-dead team strategy, which left him in a compromised position, leading to Hadjar crashing into him.

So, in what world does Kimi not belong in F1? You’re talking complete rubbish. Just because your favorite driver doesn’t have a contract doesn’t mean you can drag down a talented young driver. Kimi’s been performing when the car’s there, and no one expected him to come in and outpace George Russell, especially considering he’s only 18 and just two years ago was racing in freakin FRECA. Get real and stop with the nonsense.

Yeah, its getting real tiring reading his anti-Kimi tirades. What Kimi was missing is a bit more confidence in the high speed. That issue is from the Monza crash, seems like it looms over him still, although he is getting better. What the team needs is to pluck Han ah from Red Bull or get some new blood for the strategy department and experts in tires.