Mercedes Faces Challenges in Jeddah as Rivals Outpace Them

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, expressed his disappointment after the team finished fifth (George Russell) and sixth (Andrea Kimi Antonelli) at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Despite a strong start to the 2025 Formula 1 season, Mercedes significantly lagged behind rivals McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari in Jeddah.

Mercedes Lacks Pace in Race Conditions

Wolff was puzzled as to why Mercedes lacked pace, especially given their second position in the championship entering the grand prix. He stated, “It was clearly our worst performance of the year so far.” The team is yet to find an explanation for the sudden drop in pace due to blistering and overheating tyres.

The frustration deepened for Wolff as Mercedes showed promising speed in qualifying, with Russell starting the grand prix in third position. However, the race unfolded disappointingly, adding to the team’s frustration.

George Russell Shares His Experience

Russell echoed Wolff’s sentiments, sharing his struggles with managing his Pirelli tyres. He told Sky Sports F1 that “they were massively overheating.” Despite pushing hard to keep up with Max at the beginning of the second stint, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on and they fell off the pace towards the end.

Russell admitted that even if he had managed more, he would still have come home in P5. He acknowledged that their car is currently struggling with this issue and coming home P5 on a bad day was acceptable, but they need to improve quickly.

Understanding the Performance Issue

Russell clarified that the lack of performance wasn’t caused by hotter temperatures on track. Instead, it was about how fast they were going through corners, and for some reason, they generated more temperature than their rivals. This resulted in tyre blistering on both the front and rear tyres, causing a loss of grip.

This performance issue comes after a positive start to the 2025 season for Russell, who claimed three podiums across the opening four grands prix, including a runner-up finish in Bahrain last weekend. However, the team had higher hopes for the race today than they did for Bahrain, and it turned out to be the opposite.