The truth behind Mercedes meeting after Russell’s ‘worst performance’ claim

Mercedes held a key meeting on Monday, at which senior technical staff, the drivers, and Toto Wolff discussed the squad’s current plight.

The Brackley-based operation has endured a run of difficult weekends since George Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix, with concern surrounding the squad’s W16 beginning to rise.

Mercedes formulating plan of attack after tough trot

George Russell has finished no higher than fifth since he won in Montreal while team-mate Kimi Antonelli has seen the chequered flag only once.

Concerns are rising within the team as the subdued performances continue; however, Monday’s meeting was far from a crisis summit. PlanetF1.com understands the meeting was a routine post-event debrief, the likes of which are held on the Monday following every grand prix, albeit one that carried greater significance than normal in the context of the current state of play.

And that context isn’t solely a result of the squad’s Belgian GP performance, but a view taken given where the season is as a whole.

Formula 1 is about to reach a critical junction as, after this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, teams are obliged to shut down for 14 consecutive days before the championship returns at the Dutch GP on August 29-31.

While the shutdown is an annual event, the F1 2025 season is far from a standard campaign given the significant new rules set to be introduced next season.

Little, if anything, from the current cars will carry over, increasing the development required for the F1 2026 project. In a cost-controlled environment, that necessitates a reduction in the effort going into the current car. While normally teams would continue to deploy upgrades deep into the season, it’s expected there will be little in the way of development parts beyond the Hungaroring event the weekend.

The outcome of that is a competitive order that is likely to change little, if at all, through the season’s final 10 races as teams channel their resources towards next season.

It is therefore even imperative than normal that teams maximise whatever package they have. It’s understood that is precisely what Mercedes focused on during its routine Monday meeting.

More on Mercedes’ current plight:

👉 Mercedes respond to Russell’s ‘worst performance’ claim in Belgian GP blow

👉 George Russell labels Belgian GP ‘worst performance of the season’ in Mercedes demand

Over the Belgian Grand Prix, Russell made comments that revealed his frustration at his team’s current predicament.

“Maximum in terms of the finishing result, very underwhelming in terms of the performance,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com. “We need to really understand what is going on and why we’ve taken such a step backwards, because these conditions today, you would argue, are ideal for us in our car, and once again, it’s been the worst performance of the season.

“So we’re going to have a big sit-down this week and try to figure it out.”

That was followed by comments from Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, who hypothesised that the current issues may be related to an upgrade introduced since the Spanish Grand Prix.

“What we had early on in the year was a car that was working well at pretty much every circuit. We were generally fighting for the second row of the grid, if not the front row,” Shovlin said.

“It’s probably true for anyone that the TD won’t improve stability,” Shovlin added of the front wing flexibility tests that were strengthened from the Spanish GP weekend.

“But we did have this wing on the car in Montreal, and it was fine.

“The fact is, other people are able to balance their cars a bit better. There’s no doubt a solution in there for us.

“But as I said, we’re just looking at all the steps that we’ve taken with the car design over the last number of races.

“It isn’t just the front wing that’s changed, and I’m sure there’s more that we can learn.

“I’d say as another point, yes, that TD on the front wing might take you in the wrong direction, but the fact is, when we’ve dropped aero balance out of the car, the instability is still there. So as I said, there’s something for us to learn.”

Monday’s meeting was therefore a forum at which the drivers and key technical staff could unpick the concerns raised in Belgium, and formulate a plan of attack for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix armed with what was gleaned in the Ardennes and its recent run of races.

It was not in itself an especially crucial meeting, but one that perhaps had greater significance for the team in the context of a season that could otherwise become a long slog to Abu Dhabi.

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