Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits frustration at 'worst performance' of 2025 F1 season at Saudi Arabian GP
Mercedes endured a disappointing weekend in Jeddah as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli finished fifth and sixth respectively in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix; neither of the Silver Arrows had the pace to compete for a podium at the high-speed street circuit
Tuesday 22 April 2025 10:11, UK
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has described his team's performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as their "worst" so far this season after George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were unable to fight for the podium spots.
Russell started third but dropped away as the race went on, having gone into Sunday's race thinking he would be in the lead battle.
The British driver lost 20 seconds after making his pit stop for hard tyres, finishing 27 seconds behind race-winner Oscar Piastri.
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"It was all about the tyres. They were massively overheating," he told Sky Sports F1.
"I was pushing hard to stay with Max [Verstappen] at the beginning of the second stint but I knew I wasn't able to hold on.
"We fell off a cliff at the end. I was dropping a second per lap in the last 15 laps. We just didn't have the pace and even if I managed more, I would have been fifth.
"Coming home in fifth on a bad day, we take it, but we need to improve it quickly."
Wolff was unsure why Mercedes suffered such tyre issues when Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren got quicker throughout the race.
He said: "Clearly our worst performance so far from the year. The pace just dropped away with a blistering tyre and overheating tyres, and so far we haven't got the explanations.
"When you kind of manage your expectations by being second quickest, and even that is not obviously what we would wish to achieve, then you see this race panning out like it did, it just adds to the frustration of the situation."
Russell: Tyres were like a balloon
Although Russell was not able to add to his three podiums, he continued his streak of finishing every race this year in the top five and is 26 points off new championship leader Piastri.
Tyre degradation was not an issue for Mercedes in China or Bahrain, two tracks which are difficult on the rubber, which left Russell slightly confused.
"It's more about how fast we are going through these corners and for whatever reason we are generating more temperature than our rivals," he said.
"Suddenly you get to a point and the tyre is like a balloon. We had blistering on the front and rear, then we had no grip.
"We need to understand why Bahrain was so positive because that's also an overheating track, but a very different type of overheating to what you experience in Jeddah.
"We had high hopes for Saudi Arabia but it turned out the opposite, so it's something we need to understand."
Antonelli enjoyed testing triple-header
Antonelli was just seven seconds behind Russell in Saudi Arabia and, on the other hand, had no tyre issues at the end of the race.
"The last 10 to 15 laps were pretty positive," the 18-year-old told Sky Sports F1.
"The first stint I need to review because I was struggling with the balance and the front tyre dropped quite easily, so I had to pit earlier compared to the others.
"Then I had to manage a lot more on the hard, but the last 10 laps I was able to push and it was nice to see the pace was up there."
Antonelli, who is the third-youngest F1 driver ever, brushed the wall twice during the race, which he said was "really scary".
The Italian looked exhausted following Saudi Arabia but has continued his trend of being relatively close to Russell and being the standout rookie after five rounds.
"The triple-header was a good test physically and mentally, but also really good to learn," said Antonelli.
"Three completely different tracks, situations, so it was good to experience that.
"I need to work on open tarmac where the degradation is higher. The degradation in Saudi was still there but it was good learnings from Bahrain, and I was happy with how I managed the car in the second stint.
"Now I have a week off to gather all the information and think about it properly to come back stronger."
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