{"id":34447,"date":"2025-05-29T12:14:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=34447"},"modified":"2025-05-29T12:14:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:14:52","slug":"russell-believes-mercedes-can-recover-from-recent-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/29\/russell-believes-mercedes-can-recover-from-recent-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell believes Mercedes can recover from recent slump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>George Russell does not expect Mercedes to encounter <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/25\/mercedes-struggle-with-performance-and-reliability-in-monaco\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the same difficulties from previous events<\/a> in Spain.<\/p>\n<p>The three-time winner believes the W16&#8217;s strong record prior to Imola, when upgrades were introduced, can give them confidence heading into this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes have worked to understand the reason for their latest updates failing to perform as anticipated.<\/p>\n<p>In the meanwhile, they have also prepared for the Spanish GP&#8217;s potentially season-defining technical directive.<\/p>\n<p>In the face of these variables, Russell is confident in the team&#8217;s prospects.<\/p>\n<h2>Russell gives verdict on Mercedes chances in Spain<\/h2>\n<p>During the first six rounds of the season, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/22\/george-russell-and-red-bull-reportedly-held-informal-talks\/\" target=\"_self\">George Russell<\/a> was arguably the most consistent driver in F1.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old finished every competitive session in the top five, a statistic that demonstrated the W16&#8217;s progress since last season.<\/p>\n<p>Not only was the 2025 Mercedes challenger capable of pestering McLaren (China, Bahrain) in some races, but its floor in terms of performance was vastly elevated.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"oc6f4pSXTbBeinRYhSQkVg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2217655183\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'oc6f4pSXTbBeinRYhSQkVg',sig:'hn8fJMljJy6uAxbNS7RnQWba2QfSO7j5sk3JNlMf5hk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2217655183',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This meant that even at weaker circuits, the German constructor found itself towards the front of the field.<\/p>\n<p>Although rookie Kimi Antonelli did not enjoy the same results as his teammate, his fastest lap in Miami Sprint qualifying was evidence that Mercedes could never be written off.<\/p>\n<p>Since Imola, however, Toto Wolff&#8217;s team have suffered a difficult patch.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/27\/verstappen-red-bull-reveals-hopes-for-spain-technical-directive\/\" target=\"_self\">Red Bull<\/a> and even Ferrari have been faster than <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/13\/mercedes-to-bring-important-sequence-of-upgrades-to-w16\/\" target=\"_self\">the W16<\/a> over the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into the final round of this triple-header, George Russell does not anticipate this new trend will continue.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It was a real shame because we lost our way slightly during the weekend in Monaco.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But we went back to a known set-up in Q1 and we were right back in the groove, right back inside the top four.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Which is where we\u2019ve been always on Saturday afternoons this year, so that was a real shame [the engine failure].<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It\u2019s obviously been two poor races. We\u2019ve been inside of the top five every single session up until Imola.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;So we\u2019re hoping to get back into our usual form and have a clean weekend.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;With the changes to the front wing [regulations], there\u2019s a bit of relearning all of the teams will have to take<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But I don\u2019t expect it to shake the order up too much.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"ut96UBFMTG1ytozIUTus-A\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2217651753\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ut96UBFMTG1ytozIUTus-A',sig:'_xL-dApk15u0jC4sos-hEJVaPJN_R_YsjGu_ulnGKGs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2217651753',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Mercedes upgrade worries<\/h4>\n<p>To some extent, Mercedes can put their poor results in Imola and Monaco to factors outside of their control.<\/p>\n<p>Even with effective update packages, it can take a few race weekends to optimise set-up.<\/p>\n<p>Their poor race result in Imola, therefore, (especially in the context of Russell qualifying third) was no reason for alarm.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, a combination of driver error and reliability &#8211; rather than a lack of performance &#8211; were their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/24\/mercedes-with-room-to-improve-after-monaco-practice\/\" target=\"_self\">limiting factors in Monte Carlo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Monaco has always been a difficult track for Mercedes anyway, so last weekend&#8217;s struggles certainly were not unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the Brackley-based outfit have legitimate reasons to doubt their latest update package.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside a new technical directive, these difficulties leave Toto Wolff&#8217;s team with plenty of work to do to ensure their trajectory in 2025 is the correct one.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo: Jiri Krenek (via Mercedes media gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Russell does not expect Mercedes to encounter the same difficulties from previous events in Spain. The three-time winner believes the W16&#8217;s strong record prior to Imola, when upgrades were introduced, can give them confidence heading into this weekend. Mercedes have worked to understand the reason for their latest updates failing to perform as anticipated. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":34448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[2452,1450,121,2461],"class_list":["post-34447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-george-russell","tag-mercedes","tag-w16"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34447","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=34447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34449,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34447\/revisions\/34449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}