Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team Principal Toto Wolff has expressed deep concern over the current performance gap separating his team from customer outfit McLaren, calling it “unacceptable” for a brand of Mercedes’ stature. While former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer praised George Russell’s strong form and journalist Lawrence Barretto dissected the team’s struggles, Wolff did not hold back his disappointment.
The 2025 Formula 1 season has been a turbulent and frustrating one for Mercedes. Formula 1 reporter Lawrence Barretto has described the team’s campaign so far as a “major disappointment,” underlining how inconsistent the team has been across various circuits and weather conditions.
Although the team had to cope with the departure of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton—who left Mercedes to join Scuderia Ferrari for the 2025 season—the start of their campaign wasn’t entirely poor. They have shown flashes of competitiveness, with occasional race wins and podium finishes. However, other weekends have revealed glaring weaknesses in the car’s performance, with Mercedes sometimes finishing over a minute behind the race winner.
What makes the current situation especially difficult for Mercedes is that they are not alone in trailing Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. But unlike those rivals, McLaren—whom Mercedes supplies with power units—has emerged as a consistent frontrunner. That comparison has only intensified the frustration within the Brackley-based outfit.
Lawrence Barretto outlines Mercedes’ technical struggles
Speaking about the team’s emotional and technical state after the first half of the season, Lawrence Barretto explained that Mercedes engineers and strategists are likely to be “irritated” by their car’s inconsistency in varying temperatures. The W16 seems to perform well in cooler conditions, but its competitiveness drops significantly in hotter climates.
“They’ll be frankly irritated that this is a season where temperature plays such a critical role in how well their weekend will go,” Barretto said. “Since the current technical regulations came into play, Mercedes has never really mastered the aerodynamics or chassis side of the package.”
Barretto also warned that next season, with further regulation tweaks on the horizon, Mercedes risks falling even further behind. “It will be an even bigger concern for them because new regulations are coming again next year. Just imagine how painful it would be if they still can’t get the car working properly once the temperature rises.”
He also pointed out that George Russell has often outperformed the car’s true capabilities, while young talent Andrea Kimi Antonelli has shown flashes of potential during specific race weekends. “Russell has been getting more out of the car than seems possible, and Kimi Antonelli has also impressed on occasion. But overall, they expected to take a step forward this year—and they haven’t. That’s why they’ll consider this a significant letdown,” he added.
Barretto concluded: “It’s worrying that they’ve fallen even further behind. Even if their pace is similar to Red Bull and Ferrari on some tracks, what really annoys them is the gap to McLaren—a team they provide with power units. That’s what makes it particularly frustrating for them.”
George Russell’s standout season
Despite the team’s struggles, George Russell has emerged as one of the bright spots of Mercedes’ season. His victory at the Canadian Grand Prix remains the only race win so far in 2025 not secured by one of the current top three drivers in the standings—Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, or Max Verstappen.
Jolyon Palmer, former Formula 1 driver turned analyst, believes this is Russell’s strongest season in the sport to date, even if the car has not allowed him to consistently challenge at the front. “I think Russell is having the best season of his career. He’s driving well and doing a solid job—but he doesn’t have the machinery to fight with the top contenders,” Palmer said.
Reflecting on Russell’s performance at his home race, the British Grand Prix, Palmer pointed out that the Mercedes driver managed to outperform both Ferrari drivers in qualifying, despite the car’s lack of pace. “He keeps pushing, even when it looks like all hope is gone,” Palmer explained. “They were having a tough weekend at Silverstone, but Russell put together a brilliant lap in Q3. They didn’t have the pace to be ahead of the Ferrari cars, but he still pulled off something impressive.”
Russell’s future remains uncertain as he has not yet renewed his contract with Mercedes, which expires at the end of the current season. While there has been speculation about Max Verstappen potentially becoming available, Russell has stated that it’s highly unlikely he would race for a different team in 2026.
Wolff’s frustration with the McLaren gap
Currently third in the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes sits a staggering 250 points behind McLaren—a team that uses the same Mercedes power units. This discrepancy is particularly surprising considering that Toto Wolff renewed the engine supply agreement with McLaren in November 2023, extending the partnership until 2030.
Reflecting on that decision, Wolff remarked: “Look at where they were three or four years ago when we signed that contract. Back then, it was an easy decision to give them access to our power units.”
“But knowing what we know today, you do start to wonder whether signing that agreement was the wisest decision I’ve ever made,” the Austrian admitted.
He continued: “In Montreal, we managed to cope well with the cooler temperatures, but in Austria, it’s been clear for years now that McLaren is the better-positioned team. One weekend, Mercedes can fight for victory. The next, we’re over a minute behind.”
“We won in Montreal, but in Austria, we were a minute off the pace. That’s just unacceptable for our team and, more importantly, for our brand,” Toto Wolff concluded.
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