Mercedes takes a step back but looks to the future
So far, McLaren has dominated the 2025 Formula 1 season and went into the summer break confident that they have done enough to finally win the Drivers’ Championship, a title that has eluded the Woking-based team since 2008. In the first 14 races of the season, McLaren missed victory only three times, leaving their rivals mostly to minor successes and podium finishes.
Among the teams that have beaten McLaren is Mercedes, which was the outright strongest force at the Canadian Grand Prix, where George Russell took the win and young driver Kimi Antonelli secured a podium. However, this remains an exception rather than the norm, especially since Mercedes took a wrong turn with its development upgrades by bringing an ineffective rear suspension package to the Imola Grand Prix — a package that was quickly abandoned after Spa-Francorchamps.
Shovlin’s words
Following this setback, and buoyed by Russell’s podium in Hungary, the Brackley-based team is optimistic about their chances to fight for wins in the remaining ten races of the season. Mercedes’ track engineering director Andrew Shovlin openly admitted the mistake but is eager to look ahead:
“When we develop new suspension parts, we do it to make the car faster. But clearly something didn’t work this time. The drivers reported that in some areas the car was definitely better with the new suspension, but they didn’t have the confidence to push as hard as they wanted in the high-speed corners because the car lacked stability. We always try to do things that improve the car’s race pace, but this time we failed.”
“The Hungarian Grand Prix showed that we have a good car. Hopefully, there will be an opportunity to consolidate our tally of race wins. We had a lot of fun in Montreal, and there are other similar circuits among the remaining ten races. We hope to have more moments like Canada.”
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