Russell already on track to surpass his 2024 season with Mercedes

If we go back almost six months, George Russell was completing his third season with the team Mercedes in Abu Dhabi from fifth place at the finish of the Grand Prix. Overtaken by Lewis Hamilton In the last sector of the last lap of the circuit, the Briton contributed in spite of himself to posterizing the last great image of the seven-time world champion aboard one of the two silver arrows.

However, the former pilot Williams was slightly more consistent over the season. Sixth in the 2024 World Drivers' Championship, George Russell was 22 points ahead of his teammate, and was just behind the two Ferrari, both McLaren, world constructors' champions, and Max Verstappen, leader of the drivers' standings.

A two-time winner in Austria and Las Vegas, the driver of the Mercedes No. 63 could even have won a third victory at Spa-Francorchamps without a disqualification suffered due to a car weighed below the minimum weight at the finish. Despite these few highlights, the driver did not enjoy thunderous results aboard his Mercedes W15. Thanks to a more powerful machine in 2025, this carpet of promising weekends allowed an almost desperate flowering for the eight-time champions between 2014 and 2021.

Russell matches his 2024 achievements

Last season, George Russell finished on four podiums in 24 appearances, including three wins since joining Mercedes. With 2025 only just beginning, the new Silver Arrows leader is already on track to have a much better year, in every way. In six races completed so far after the Miami event, the Briton has already matched his total from last year with four podium finishes, or two-thirds of the time.

At this early stage of the season, Russell has only missed out on the top three twice. At Suzuka and Jeddah, in virtually opposite conditions, Kimi Antonelli's teammate finished in fifth place. A more than respectable result in a context where his car seems to be struggling to be competitive in the long term behind the regularly lively leading trio.

The W16 is more permissive than previous generations of Mercedes

Despite some electronics issues, particularly those encountered in Bahrain in the closing stages, the W16 version of the Mercedes has led to a better understanding on the part of the team. George Russell has arrived at a team undergoing a complete rebuild and appears, for the first time, able to hope for a series of good results with his team.

More balanced, capable of adapting to a wide range of track conditions, his single-seater nevertheless suffers from a form of overheating in the tires, preventing him from aiming even higher. Like the thirty-second deficit accumulated during the Miami Grand Prix on the leading duo, George Russell admitted that he was not capable of challenging the pace of the McLarens. In this context, podiums will have to be maximized for the Briton, hoping that his team finds a solution by the summer, or that the 2026 season allows Mecedes to return to the top, as it did during the last decade.

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