Mercedes ditch suspension upgrade for F1 Hungarian GP amid torrid run of form

Kimi Antonelli has revealed that Mercedes have reverted back to an old rear suspension following a difficult run of form in the 2025 F1 season.

Mercedes debuted a new rear suspension at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May.

However, their form has tailed off since then  - aside from a 1-3 finish in Canada.

George Russell has finished in the top five four times in the last seven races.

On the other hand, Antonelli’s form has been worryingly poor, scoring points just once in the same period.

In a bid to understand their issues, Mercedes will run an older suspension part to see if they regain their early-season form.

Antonelli hopes this change helps him regain his confidence after a difficult run.

“First of all, we’re going back on the old suspension, so hopefully it will bring the good feeling back, and the goal is really to deliver a good Qualifying and try to drive at my best,” Antonelli said.

“Since we went on the new suspension, the car was a bit trickier to drive, especially on tracks where there was high-speed context, so high-speed corners, high-speed combined.

“Also, because of my driving style, I was making the car even more unpredictable, and that killed a bit my confidence.

“I struggled to adapt as well a little bit to the car, and that is why I couldn’t extract the best out of it. George [Russell], I think, with his experience, he adapted much quicker and better, and he was able to extract each weekend the maximum out of the car.

“It’s something I’ve been really trying to do, that I’ve been struggling with, but hopefully, going back to the old suspension, it will bring back that feeling that I had prior to the European season.”

Russell gives his view 

Mercedes’ run of results have meant they’ve slipped behind Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

Russell finished fifth at the Belgian GP last time out, 35s off the McLaren duo.

“Clearly, our performance as a team has gone backwards in the last six or seven races, and we’re trying to unpick why that may have been,” Russell explained. “I think there’s a number of factors at play.

“Obviously, we struggle in the hotter conditions – Spa wasn’t hot, but generally we struggle in the hotter conditions. We brought some things with updates, and we think that may not have been performing as we had hoped, so we’ll revert back on some small items.

“I think we potentially just lost our way slightly, so we’re going to go back to basics, focus on the main parts of the car, and see where that takes us.”