George Russell will be tasked with leading Mercedes in 2025, following 7-time Champion Lewis Hamilton’s departure from Brackley. As Russell becomes the new benchmark for Mercedes, he is confident about facing off against Max Verstappen for a title.
Russell: “I absolutely believe in myself”
In many ways, George Russell’s arrival at Mercedes was very poorly timed. The British driver joined the Silver Arrows in 2022, the first season when they were out of title contention.
Having spent three years at Williams, the 26-year-old missed out on the dominant machinery that Mercedes produced before the current regulatory cycle.
Despite this, Russell has managed to collect a few race victories and plenty of podiums. Without an unfortunate DSQ at last year’s Belgian GP, he would have claimed three victories across the 2024 campaign.
Only one point separated him with teammate Lewis Hamilton across their three seasons as teammates. It was Hamilton narrowly got the edge over Russell with a late overtake at the Abu Dhabi GP.
Regardless, the driver in car #63 is eager to fight against the very best for a World title – including Max Verstappen:
“Nobody’s unbeatable,” he told the media after Verstappen secured the 2024 title in Vegas.
“And you go through these phases where teams and drivers together are dominating – and people think if I went up alongside them, I wouldn’t be able to compete with them.
“And you’ve got to have belief in yourself… For me personally when I teamed up with Lewis – Lewis is the greatest of all time, and Max is right up there with Lewis.
“So yeah, I absolutely believe in myself that we could fight him in equal machinery.”
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Mercedes enter 2025 as wild cards
For the first time in recent memory, four teams enter an F1 campaign with realistic aspirations of fighting for the Championship. Convincing arguments could be made to suggest that Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull will collect regular victories in 2025.
With that said, there are more doubts surrounding Mercedes than their immediate rivals.
The German constructor suffered from regular ups and downs with last year’s W15 – a car that was easily affected by changes to track temperature and wind direction.
Although Toto Wolff’s personnel often produced a car capable of challenging anyone, they were equally vulnerable to inexplicable losses in pace.
Establishing a reliable foundation for their 2025 package is not the only key point for Mercedes. Their new driver line-up will also be a crucial issue.
Returning to George Russell, he is expected to lead the way at Brackley. In many ways, the next twelve months are an adjustment period for Kimi Antonelli – as he gets up to speed.
Should James Allison’s team overcome the gremlins of years gone by, it will be on Russell’s shoulders to deliver results.
Of course, the three-time winner is not the only driver with ambitions of taking the crown from Max Verstappen.
Ferrari’s decision to swap Carlos Sainz for Lewis Hamilton tells you everything you need to know about the firepower at the sharp end of Formula 1.
Because of this, 2025 could be the first time Russell is engaged in season-long battles for race victories. For various reasons, this could be the most consequential year of the Mercedes driver’s career,
