George Russell Hints Mercedes are Reverting to “What They Had Before”!

George Russell's honest opinion on Mercedes's pace in the recent weekend.

George got the maximum he could from that one 👊 And some solid overtakes out there from Kimi pic.twitter.com/pKSeRiPKTX
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 27, 2025

George Russell had a rock start to the weekend in Spa Francorchamps. He managed to end the weekend with a P5 under his mantle. However, his rise to points was no less than miraculous considering the situation Mercedes were in throughout the weekend. The lack of pace shown by the Silver Arrows was alarming considering their recent pace. Mercedes have been in a tough situation for the past couple of years but they have made a lot of recovery.

The start of the 2025 season brought good news to the Brackley outfit with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell behind the wheel. The Briton managed to grab multiple podiums. The Canadian Grand Prix also brought forth a 1-3 finish for the Silver Arrows with George Russell taking the prized podium. The pace advantage and consistency shown by the Mercedes cars is also the reason people are linking Max Verstappen with the Silver Arrows. However, during the last weekend, Mercedes were seemingly nowhere until the start of the race.

George Russell Believes His P5 Was “Flattering” the Real Pace of Mercedes

George Russell has had a rough career in Formula 1 until his stint with Mercedes. He was an amazing talent who joined Williams as a part of the Mercedes Junior Driver Programme. Although, it took him many years to finally make his debut with the Silver Arrows. Russell’s frightening pace was shown during the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. Subbing in for Lewis Hamilton, Russell was leading towards a victory before a tyre failure ruined his race. He would have to wait until the 2022 F1 season to join in as a full-time driver.

As soon as Russell became a part of the Silver Arrows, they were no longer a championship winning team. Instead, Mercedes was reduced to a mere shadow of what they were. After Lewis Hamilton’s departure in 2025, Russell has been leading the team out front. The Briton has been very successful in the car so far.

Full focus on Hungary 💪 pic.twitter.com/HLLXtt2Ot3
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 27, 2025

Here’s why George Russell believes the car is going backwards in terms of race performance and development-

“We need to understand why we’ve lost so much pace in recent races. Of course it’s frustrating for all of us as a team, P5 was probably flattering the real pace of the car so I’m at least happy we got the maximum possible. We made a clear change of direction a couple of months ago and I think since that point we’ve taken a step backwards.”

“Sometimes it takes a few races to understand what the real reasons are for that lack of pace but clearly it seems like we need to revert back to what we had earlier in the season.”

George Russell ended up finishing the Belgian Grand Prix 35s behind race leader Oscar Piastri. There was no chance for the Briton to try and compete for a podium finish. Mercedes are a strong contender for the upcoming regulation changes. The team needs to get a hold of itself if they want to compete better in the next season.

Belgian Grand Prix 2025

Formula 1

Formula 1 2025 Season

George Russell

Mercedes Formula 1 Team

Rohan Singh

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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.