Toto Wolff hails George Russell’s “formidable” Singapore F1 win as proof of “step-up”

Toto Wolff has praised George Russell for his “formidable” display at the Singapore Grand Prix, stating that it highlights his notable “step-up” this year.

Russell claimed his second victory of the 2025 F1 season in Singapore on Sunday. 

The British driver produced two laps good enough to take pole in Q3 to beat Max Verstappen.

Russell controlled the race from pole to hand Mercedes their first Singapore win since 2018.

By his own admission, Singapore hasn’t been a grand prix kind to Russell.

He endured a nightmare race at the Marina Bay Circuit in 2022, finishing 14th, and also crashed out of the 2023 race while running in third, chasing Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris for the win.

Speaking to reporters in Singapore after the race, Wolff highlighted Russell’s improvement as a driver.

“I think we’ve seen George in the past with these moments, but not recently, and that’s the step-up that he has made also this year, that these things don’t happen again,” Wolff said.

“He was in control of the race today, eking out an advantage, managing it when Max was a bit closer, and there was not at any moment a doubt that there was any risk in his driving.

“He’s been formidable this year. I haven’t seen mistakes. There were weekends that he himself said I could have done more, that it wasn’t a good race.

“But this happens with any driver. You can see when it merges, the car being in a perfect space, and the driver being on top of things, that becomes the dominant formula, and that is what we’ve seen here.

“That was never a nice place for us in terms of car performance. It’s obviously a great place, other than driving. And if you would have told me that we’re dominating in the way we did today, I would have not believed it. But from the get-go on both tyres, driver and car, were just in sync and not to be beaten.”

Wolff on Antonelli’s race

Despite showing strong pace in practice, Kimi Antonelli’s weekend unravelled in qualifying. 

The 19-year-old Italian lost out to Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, putting him on the back foot for the rest of the race. 

He ultimately finished fifth, pulling off a late move on Leclerc at Turn 16.

Wolff feels more was on the table for Antonelli in Singapore. Antonelli was guilty of overpushing in Q3, leaving him fourth on the grid behind Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.

Assessing Antonelli’s weekend, Wolff said: “Kimi is also one that always sees the glass half-empty, and what he will see is a Q3 that didn’t go to plan, that could have put him in the first row, and a start in Turn 1 that wasn’t so good.

“That’s at least his honest feedback after the race, and for him it’s more like maybe a front position that was lost, rather than a P5 that was won.

“But solid delivery, the manoeuvre on Leclerc was strong. It wasn’t caught by the cameras, but we could see on the telemetry a huge braking event, that there was so much pressure in the system that it started to oscillate.

“So yeah, that was good, and maybe that’s a bit comforting after the other parts of the race.”