Season review: Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

      Having scored the same number of points as a year ago, the Mercedes team finished the year two places higher than in 2024.

      Driver

      Grands Prix

      Position

      Points

      Best start

      Best finish

      George Russell

      24

      4

      319

      1

      1

      Andrea Kimi Antonelli

      24

      7

      150

      2

      2

      Mercedes AMG Petronas

      Grands Prix

      Position

      Points

      Best start

      Best finish

      2025

      24

      2

      469

      1

      1

      2024

      24

      4

      468

      1

      1

      2023

      22

      2

      409

      1

      2

      2022

      22

      3

      515

      1

      1

      2021

      22

      1

      613.5

      1

      1

      At the end of the year Mercedes did not hide their delight that the 2022 technical regulations using ground effect are becoming a thing of the past. One of the smartest teams poured enormous effort and resources into developing several interesting concepts but never found a way to make those rules work.

      All these years Mercedes cars suffered from porpoising, were effective only in a narrow range of conditions and worked well with the tyres only in certain weather. You can imagine how frustrating it was for Mercedes' best engineers to watch the customer team McLaren consistently winning with the same power units.

      Of the 25 wins by Mercedes-powered cars over the past two years, the factory team has only six; the other 19 belong to McLaren. And after the end of the season Wolff publicly reminded everyone: Mercedes builds engines to win with.

      Yes — after the high-profile successes the championship team was gradually picked apart, with better offers and higher pay, although there is no doubt Mercedes paid above the market. Many former employees now work successfully in leadership roles at other teams, but that is common practice in Formula 1.

      Seeing staff move to rival teams, Mercedes insisted they had sufficient reserves and depth, but they failed to cope with the 2022 regulations and are glad for the opportunity to design a new car from a clean sheet.

      One of the season’s important events for Mercedes was the debut of young Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Having once lost the fight for Max Verstappen to Helmut Marko, Toto Wolff did not want to miss out on another promising driver.

      Back then Helmut won the fight for Max, immediately offering the young European F3 driver a place in Formula 1. Wolff did the same, immediately giving Kimi a seat in the factory Mercedes team.

      Many criticised Wolff for this when the 18-year-old Italian (at the time) realised mid-season that he was struggling. But Mercedes helped their rookie, and by autumn he was sometimes beating his experienced teammate George Russell.

      There were victories — George won races in Canada (Kimi finished third there) and in Singapore. Interestingly, the win in Singapore was only Mercedes' seventh in the last four years.

      There were also setbacks. The team lost two rounds during the season — in Monaco Antonelli crashed in qualifying, and Russell stopped in the tunnel due to a loss of power — and they scored no points.

      At Silverstone Kimi also crashed, while Russell finished tenth.

      The most productive race was in Brazil, where first in the sprint Antonelli and Russell finished second and third, and then on Sunday Kimi climbed the podium by finishing second, while Russell finished fourth.

      Mercedes' goals and objectives are clear — to restore the factory team's former glory and status under the new regulations, but Toto Wolff understands that it will not be easy.

      Toto Wolff: "Some teams have more time to work in the wind tunnel because they finished lower in the Constructors' Championship. Perhaps this will allow them to find an innovation we might have missed. Even if the Mercedes power unit turns out to be the best, success cannot be taken for granted."

      The team has two strong drivers, an experienced leader and excellent technical capabilities. The problem is that these ingredients are now present in almost every team, and only one will become champion.