Mercedes expects more than four teams to win a Grand Prix in 2025

What to expect from Mercedes in 2025? The German team is now orphaned of its star driver, Lewis Hamilton, and is preparing to open a new chapter in its history in Formula 1By banking on youth, with George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Silver Arrows hope to find their way back to the top, four years after their last Constructors' world title obtained in 2021.

Mercedes makes no secret of its ambitions: fourth in the championship in 2024 despite four Grand Prix victories, the team led by Toto wolff now wants to fight for both crowns. “The season will be very competitive, Mercedes Team Principal estimates. We saw last year how tight the field was. You couldn't tell from race to race who would be in the lead, and I expect this year to be even tighter. We'll have to give our best if we want to fight for the championship this season."

If Mercedes looks towards the top of the table, it will also remain attentive to what is happening behind it... because beyond its title ambitions, the German team fears the arrival of new protagonists in 2025. With the stability of the regulations between 2024 and 2025, one year before the technical revolution expected in 2026, we could see teams from the middle of the table playing the leading roles thanks to the convergence of performances. "It will be a hard-fought championship from the start, exsays James Allison, Mercedes technical director.. At this stage of the regulations, the cars are converging in terms of performance. There will be several winners, and it is possible that we will see even more teams on the top step of the podium than the four that took victories last year.

A Mercedes W16 less lazy than the W15?

In an attempt to gain a few hundredths of a second and establish itself permanently at the top of the timesheets, Mercedes has developed its car in small touches. Thus, the Mercedes W16 is equipped with the reworked pontoons and a plunging nose at the front of the W16, as well as new suspensions compared to its predecessor. Developments which aim to make the single-seater more predictable, more constant too, and less lazy. We focused primarily on eliminating the W15's slight reluctance to turn in slow corners, as well as the imbalance in tyre temperatures that made the car inconsistent from session to session." explains James Allison.

No major revolution therefore on the Mercedes W16, a car on which it will be increasingly difficult to find performance as the Grands Prix go by, indicates Hywel Thomas, general director of Mercedes HPP, the engine department of the German team. “At this stage of the regulations, the lap time gains are small. It is still possible to find small things that can make the difference between Saturday and Sunday. We could see last year, especially in qualifying, how close some teams were to each other, underlines the British engineer. Finding those 10 or 20 milliseconds is crucial; it can be the difference between pole or the second or third row. We will continue to look for those gains and we hope to be in the fight for the championship in Abu Dhabi.

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