One of the biggest bombshell events of the 2024 season was Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari deal. While the seven-time world champion decided to move ahead, he left his current team with a plethora of questions. The Mercedes team, which is already struggling with technical woes, now has an even bigger question to answer. Who will partner up with George Russell in 2025?
Although the answer is still a mystery, the Silver Arrows are in a much better place. With Russell’s consistent performance, the Brackley-based outfit feels he is ready to take the mantle. The young British racer was rather excited to take on his responsibilities from the upcoming season.
George Russell Charged Up To Take The Mercedes Mantle
George Russell has experienced a mixed fortune in recent races. He won in Austria and initially in Belgium, but he was disqualified there due to his overweight car, which handed the win to Lewis Hamilton. Despite this setback, Russell remains optimistic about the future. He is focused on laying the groundwork for a more consistent title challenge next year. Russell acknowledged the challenges faced over the past few years in getting the car to a competitive level. Still, he expressed strong motivation and excitement for the remainder of the season and into 2025. He believes that with the current competition, Mercedes has a solid chance to be in contention.
Currently, Mercedes is in fourth place in the standings, trailing 100 points behind McLaren and 142 points behind Red Bull. Russell noted that if the season had started in Montreal, the championship standings might look very different. He highlighted the renewed motivation across all teams, including McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes, to return to the front of the grid. While he recognizes the challenges ahead, Russell is hopeful for a strong competitive battle as the season progresses and into the next year.
Mercedes To Replicate W15 For The 2025 Season
Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, has stated that the following season’s vehicle would be closely linked to the current W15. This move stems from the team’s growing confidence in continuing their progress from recent races into the 2025 season. Mercedes has made huge performance gains in recent months, putting the team in regular race-winning contention with three triumphs in the last four Grands Prix. Shovlin noted that the success of their recent advances has strengthened their optimism that they can maintain their upward trajectory into the coming year. This is a significant departure from prior seasons when such confidence was lacking.
Despite a disappointing start to the season with a vehicle that fell short of expectations, the British engineer emphasized that the team has made significant progress in identifying and fixing their initial issues. He admitted that the car’s baseline was not ideal, which contributed to their first difficulties. However, the German Marque has discovered the main challenges via consistent work and provided a clear roadmap to unlocking performance.
