{"id":32028,"date":"2025-03-25T04:18:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T08:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=32028"},"modified":"2025-03-25T04:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T08:34:08","slug":"mercedes-flirt-with-title-contention-as-w16-exceeds-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/25\/mercedes-flirt-with-title-contention-as-w16-exceeds-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes flirt with title contention as W16 exceeds expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes generally went under the radar in pre-season testing, as McLaren<\/a> and Ferrari received the lion’s share of media focus. Heading into round one in Bahrain, it was the Woking and Maranello-based operations that were seen as favourites.<\/p>\n

After the first two rounds, however, Mercedes have surpassed all expectations with their 2025 package.<\/p>\n

The W16 is far more predictable than it’s predecessor. This is true in terms of it’s drivability and resistance to changes in wind levels and track temperature – which were previously catastrophic for performance.<\/p>\n

George Russell<\/a> sits 3rd in the Championship, taking successive podiums and regularly giving McLaren something to worry about.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, Mercedes are cautiously optimistic they can give Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris some headaches.<\/p>\n

Mercedes optimistic they can claw the gap<\/h4>\n

Unlike previous years, the 2025 development race is likely to be decided within the first months of the season.<\/p>\n

With teams already allocating resources to the 2026 regulations, there is a very small window of opportunity for improvements this year.<\/p>\n

Because of this, Mercedes have put themselves in a very strong position with the W16’s baseline.<\/p>\n

The Brackley-based squad can avoid the headaches Ferrari and Red Bull<\/a> are facing – with both teams uncertain about their development direction.<\/p>\n

Since returning to Mercedes, Technical Director James Allison has fixed many of the team’s previous limitations.<\/p>\n

\"\"
2025 Chinese Grand Prix, Friday – Jiri Krenek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The W16 is another step in the right direction, inspiring confidence that more lap-time can be unlocked.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the Chinese GP, team principal Toto Wolff was optimistic about the title fight:<\/p>\n

“Today they had maybe two tenths on us,” <\/em>he told Sky Germany.<\/p>\n

“Considering the fact our car didn’t work on Friday at all, it was a good step.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Two tenths, even three tenths, can be made up,” Wolff added.<\/em><\/p>\n

“The way it was in Melbourne, it was too much.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Antonelli completes strong driver line-up<\/h4>\n

Crucially, Mercedes are the beneficiaries of having a very strong driver combination.<\/p>\n

Unlike Red Bull<\/a>, who have only scored points with Max Verstappen, both Silver Arrow drivers are delivering results.<\/p>\n

George Russell can be relied upon to maximise the car, whilst Kimi Antonelli is already fast enough to keep the British driver honest.<\/p>\n

Antonelli’s finish in Shanghai, P6 after the Ferrari disqualifications, was better than it looked on paper.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old suffered floor damage at the beginning of the race, which proved a limiting factor for his performance.<\/p>\n

Despite this, the Mercedes driver contributed important points to a team that cannot be written off.<\/p>\n

\"\"
2025 Chinese Grand Prix, Saturday – Jiri Krenek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toto Wolff<\/a> is pleased with the youngster’s development, especially considering his potential to improve:<\/p>\n

“Kimi\u2019s race was unfortunately compromised by floor damage he sustained on the first lap.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He kept his head down though and fought really hard, despite the sizeable performance deficit he was carrying, to come home a creditable P8.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He didn\u2019t complain throughout the race, just kept focused on the job, and that\u2019s exactly what we want to see.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Overall, it\u2019s been a good start to the new season. The ambition is to win but we don\u2019t feel any entitlement that we should.<\/em><\/p>\n

“The car is not quite as fast as the McLaren as the moment, but the team are working hard to close that gap.<\/em><\/p>\n

“For now, we are maximising the performance we have and to leave China second in the Constructors\u2019 Championship.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Having taken two podiums for the first two races, is satisfying.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercedes generally went under the radar in pre-season testing, as McLaren and Ferrari received the lion’s share of media focus. Heading into round one in Bahrain, it was the Woking and Maranello-based operations that were seen as favourites. After the first two rounds, however, Mercedes have surpassed all expectations with their 2025 package. The W16 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":31871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,121,2461],"class_list":["post-32028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-mercedes","tag-w16"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32031,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32028\/revisions\/32031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}