Mercedes lacking explanation for “worst performance of the year”
Mercedes left searching for answers after a puzzling lack of performance in Saudi Arabia.
Mercedes have been left scratching their heads after suffering their “worst performance of the year” at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
After George Russell challenged for pole position, Mercedes endured a disappointing and rather anonymous race in Jeddah. The Briton slipped from third on the grid to a distant fifth, ahead of rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Russell ended up half a minute down on the front with fifth and sixth representing Mercedes’ joint-worst result of the 2025 season so far.
More concerning was the Silver Arrows’ general lack of race pace, something which left team principal Toto Wolff perplexed.
“It was clearly our worst performance of the year so far,” Wolff said. “The pace just dropped away with blistering, overheating tyres and so far we haven’t got an explanation.”
“You manage your expectations being the second quickest - and even that is not obviously what we would wish to achieve - and then you see the race panning out like it did.
"It just adds to the frustration of the situation.”
Despite their underwhelming performance in Saudi Arabia, Mercedes remain a solid second in the constructors’ championship on 111 points, 77 adrift of leaders McLaren.
George Russell’s tyres felt like a balloon
Russell blamed overheating for his lack of pace, explaining that his tyres felt like “a balloon” in the closing stages. He was heard airing concerns about a potential failure over team radio as he nursed his tyres to the end.
“I was pushing hard to stay with Max at the beginning of the second stint,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “But I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold on and we fell off that cliff towards the end.
“I was dropping a second a lap in the last 15 laps, but to be fair, we just didn’t have the pace and even if I had managed more, I think I still would have come home in P5.
“We know that it’s a bit of a weakness of our car at the moment. And coming home P5 on a bad day - we’ll take it - but we need to try and improve it quickly.
“It’s about how fast we're going through these corners, and for whatever reason, we've generated more temperature than our rivals.
“Then suddenly you get to a point where the tyres are like a balloon. We had blistering on the front, blistering on the rear, and then suddenly you just have no grip from the tyre at all.”
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