2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

slower than the Haas, and gifted two points to Piastri with that team order (+ bad stop). Not ideal indeed.

They weren't slower than Haas. Russell's best lap of the race is 7 tenths quicker than anything Bearman did.

Russell's management of the race was simply poor. His start, then his management of the situation with Hamilton-Verstappen in T4 where he blew the chance to get P3 because he was preoccupied with Max, while Bearman said "see you later" and overtook both of them. After that he groveled for team orders which cost both cars the position to Piastri.

[OverheatedTurbo]

This team is not ready for a championship winning car. The strategy, car design and development is trash. They don’t deserve P2 this year, they deserve P4. Still designing SF-23 variants since last year. The issue with the car is the same one: tyres. They can’t design a car that’s kind to its tyres. I expect them to have the same problem next year with the tyres. Zero improvement in that area of the car. The strat was trash as well, the swap should have happened much sooner.

[f1isgood]

Russell was simply not good enough. Nothing surprising really.
He can only deliver in the clearly best and dominant car. Something like a Lando or a Oscar. But that's alright. That's most drivers anyways.

[OverheatedTurbo]

slower than the Haas, and gifted two points to Piastri with that team order (+ bad stop). Not ideal indeed.

They weren't slower than Haas. Russell's best lap of the race is 7 tenths quicker than anything Bearman did.

Russell's management of the race was simply poor. His start, then his management of the situation with Hamilton-Verstappen in T4 where he blew the chance to get P3 because he was preoccupied with Max, while Bearman said "see you later" and overtook both of them. After that he groveled for team orders which cost both cars the position to Piastri.

This team is simply too stupid. The lead driver is George Russell not Kimi, he’s the one carrying almost all of the points this season in this team. The team should have swapped the cars earlier to try and overtake Bearman, but they’re just too stupid and worried about Kimi’s head space. If it was Max on that car, the swap WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. Mercedes is just slow and stupid this season, period.

[OverheatedTurbo]

To add insult to injury, Mercedes is under investigation for infringing the budget cap from 2024. Imagine that! Infringing the cost cap and designing these slow cars. Honestly, some people ought to be fired. The team is in SHAMBLES.

[Matt2725]

They took way too long to make the swap, that much is true. They waited about 5-6 laps too long and Russell had no chance. In his position, I would have just let Piastri go and followed him through past Antonelli.

I get Kimi is the golden child but if the kid gets upset at it then he's not ready. It was telling how quickly he was on the radio to re-invert the positions later on.

Besides that, Russell is far too conservative on the race starts. Just lets others mug him for position with ease in the first corners. I've lost count now of how many races, even when he gets a good start, I've watched his name plummet down the order. Stick the wheel in there and force the agenda for once. Right now they're racing him knowing he won't risk contact.

[AR3-GP]

Good on Kimi to stand his ground. He is not a pushover. That team order was hogwash. Russell did nothing after being waived through.

[SB15]

Russell was simply not good enough. Nothing surprising really.
He can only deliver in the clearly best and dominant car. Something like a Lando or a Oscar. But that's alright. That's most drivers anyways.

This has to be a troll account. His team took 5-6 laps after to swap position to overtake Bearman when he had much more pace vs Kimi. Funny how you wrote this deranged comment without realizing Verstappen couldn't get past Bearman either though he was on the better mediums + has the "theoretical" fastest car.

[OverheatedTurbo]

They took way too long to make the swap, that much is true. They waited about 5-6 laps too long and Russell had no chance. In his position, I would have just let Piastri go and followed him through past Antonelli.

I get Kimi is the golden child but if the kid gets upset at it then he's not ready. It was telling how quickly he was on the radio to re-invert the positions later on.

Besides that, Russell is far too conservative on the race starts. Just lets others mug him for position with ease in the first corners. I've lost count now of how many races, even when he gets a good start, I've watched his name plummet down the order. Stick the wheel in there and force the agenda for once. Right now they're racing him knowing he won't risk contact.

I agree. He needs to start dive bombing more. This season is over anyway…he should take more risks going into T1 more often.

[AR3-GP]

I agree. He needs to start dive bombing more.

That's absolutely what this championship needs...

[SB15]

slower than the Haas, and gifted two points to Piastri with that team order (+ bad stop). Not ideal indeed.

They weren't slower than Haas. Russell's best lap of the race is 7 tenths quicker than anything Bearman did.

Russell's management of the race was simply poor. His start, then his management of the situation with Hamilton-Verstappen in T4 where he blew the chance to get P3 because he was preoccupied with Max, while Bearman said "see you later" and overtook both of them. After that he groveled for team orders which cost both cars the position to Piastri.

The tyres were baking as well because the track temps were at a whopping 51.4C All the drivers were complaining about "no grip" when really they couldn't use the tyres because they were almost instantly overheated. So this race was a recipe of disaster from the start. I knew it was going to be cooler vs COTA, but I couldn't have been anymore wrong when I didn't take the boiling track temps into account + plus the thinner air.

So Mercedes were caught between a rock and a hard place this race, the strategy didn't help either.

[Matt2725]

George had the worst of both worlds. Having to defend from a much faster McLaren, all whilst sitting in his teammate's dirty air.

Even after they did the swap, he radioed in saying he'd cool off his tyres first and keep Kimi in DRS which he did. But at that point, the tyres were ruined. Had they swapped when the call came in, I think George would have likely secured at least P4 today.

Also they really need to put a big old gravel trap on the outside of T1. I've lost count how many cars over the years have skipped over the grass there and at least maintained position.

[AR3-GP]

George had the worst of both worlds. Having to defend from a much faster McLaren, all whilst sitting in his teammate's dirty air.

Even after they did the swap, he radioed in saying he'd cool off his tyres first and keep Kimi in DRS which he did. But at that point, the tyres were ruined. Had they swapped when the call came in, I think George would have likely secured at least P4 today.

"defend"? He was in a DRS train. All he had to do was sit. The swap screwed both of them. You might not care so much about a nothing P5 and P6, but Mercedes wants to finish P2 in the championship.

[Matt2725]

George had the worst of both worlds. Having to defend from a much faster McLaren, all whilst sitting in his teammate's dirty air.

Even after they did the swap, he radioed in saying he'd cool off his tyres first and keep Kimi in DRS which he did. But at that point, the tyres were ruined. Had they swapped when the call came in, I think George would have likely secured at least P4 today.

"defend"? He was in a DRS train. All he had to do was sit. The swap screwed both of them.

The delay of the swap screwed them both. He wasn't in a DRS train, he was sat behind Kimi who wasn't in DRS eventually (by which time Russell's tyres had started to go off) and also having to defend from Oscar later on by overheating his tyres to remain in DRS whilst fighting in the dirty air.

I know you have a weird aversion to Russell but let's not pretend it was something it wasn't.

[AR3-GP]

The delay of the swap screwed them both. He wasn't in a DRS train, he was sat behind Kimi who wasn't in DRS eventually (by which time Russell's tyres had started to go off) and also having to defend from Oscar later on by overheating his tyres to remain in DRS whilst fighting in the dirty air.

1) As long as Russell had DRS, he wasn't getting overtaken. He needed to play the team game and protect the positions. He sold a fairytale to Mercedes and they fell for it hook line and sinker. It's poor of Ron meadows to get hoodwinked like this after the previous seasons.

2) The delay in the swap is nothing because a swap shouldn't have happened to begin with. Russell didn't get closer to Bearman after the swap and Russell didn't make any impression on Bearman when he had new tires again. So Mercedes let Russell call the shots for no purpose at all, except to piss off Kimi and throw points to Piastri. This is what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum.

The funny thing is Russell used to pull these "I'm faster than him, are we racing each other or what?" stunts all the time in the previous seasons, then he would get in front and do nothing because he was destroying his tires to prove he was "faster". Then his former teammate would come back at him with better tires.