Mercedes launch 2025 F1 car: George Russell says W16 E a good step forward

Following Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, Russell takes over as team leader alongside new team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli, an 18-year-old Italian regarded as one of the most prodigious young talents in the sport, said: “Winter preparation has been quite intense. Really interesting. Trying to focus on as many things as possible, want to avoid arriving to Melbourne to have some bad surprise.”

Russell said: “Even if the line-up stayed the same this year, going into this season it’s my fourth with Mercedes, seventh in F1.

“Last year was probably my strongest ever and I feel I’m getting stronger year-on-year. So even if things had stayed the same, I felt a huge amount of support from the team.

“Equally the team gave me that support when I joined and now Kimi is a super-fast driver, super-motivated. Naturally a lot to learn but I am sure it’s going to be a good season together.”

Mercedes won eight consecutive constructors’ titles from 2014-21 but have fallen from the very front since new regulations were introduced for 2022, winning only five grands prix in three years.

Russell said: “The last couple of years we have been so focused on solving the problem, we weren’t looking ahead to what future issues it would cause.

“You solve one thing and it creates a new problem, we have been much more forward-thinking than we have in the past.

“When you’re changing characteristics of the car, if you make the front stronger it is going to take away from the rear, and if you go too far, that’s just as much of a problem as the opposite direction.

“It’s being thorough, saying: ‘These are the fundamental changes we’re going to make. We think it’s going to do X, is that going to be a problem at these races and if so how are we going to drive around it?’”

Wolff said Antonelli “has all the necessary talent to achieve great things at the pinnacle of the sport, but this is a rookie season and there will inevitably be ups and downs. We’re looking forward to that journey together though and helping him develop over the course of the year”.