George Russell has revealed Mercedes are holding a “big meeting” this week in an attempt to understand the team’s loss of form across the last few rounds of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The Brit began the year strongly, claiming four podiums as he finished in the top five at each of the first six races of the season.
The highlight of Mercedes’ campaign came as Russell won and team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished on the podium in Canada in June, but the three races since have been “underwhelming”.
Russell was fifth at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, but finished half a minute back from the dominant McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, and – perhaps more concerningly – almost 15 seconds behind the battle for third between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Watch the race highlights from the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps
Russell told Sky Sports F1: “It was pretty underwhelming, to be honest.
“Because we tend to favour the cooler conditions. So we couldn’t have really asked for better weather for us. But we’ve just had no pace recently. We need to sit down, all of us.
“We’re going to have a big meeting this week with all the designers and engineers. To sort of understand the decisions we’ve made in recent weeks or months. And why we’ve gone backwards. So hoping for some improvements in Hungary.”
Mercedes have introduced a series of upgrades to the W16 over the last couple of months, but Russell admits the team have failed to extract performance from the new parts.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
George Russell takes a huge spin at the British Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver struggling for grip at Silverstone
He added: “P5 was probably flattering the real pace of the car, so I’m at least happy we got the maximum possible.
“We made a clear change of direction a couple of months ago, and I think it’s been since that point we’ve taken a step backwards.
“It sometimes takes a few races to understand what the real reasons are for that lack of pace, but clearly it seems that we need to revert back to what we had earlier in the season.”
Does front-wing rule change explain Mercedes’ struggles?
Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin admitted after the race in Spa that the team have struggled to balance their car since the introduction of a technical directive (TD) at the Spanish Grand Prix which limited the permitted amount of front-wing flexing.
He said: “What we had earlier in the year was a car that was working well at pretty much every circuit.
“We were generally fighting for the second row of the grid, if not the front row. It’s probably true for anyone that the TD won’t improve stability, but we did have this wing on the car in Montreal and it was fine.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports’ Bernie Collins explains the impact front wing flexibility can have on a car
“The fact is that other people are able to balance their cars a bit better. There’s no doubt a solution in there for us. We’re just looking at all the steps that we’ve taken with the car design over the last number of races.
“It isn’t just the front wing that’s changed, and I’m sure there’s more that we can learn. That’s what the focus is on over the next few races, trying to pinpoint why we’re getting this entry stability issue.”
Mercedes have little time to reverse their fortunes ahead of the second leg of a back-to-back in Hungary this weekend before the summer break.
Confirming the “big meeting” mentioned by Russell would take place on Monday, Shovlin expressed confidence that positive changes can be made for the Hungaroring.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights of the Canadian Grand Prix from the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve as George Russell won in Montreal
He added: “It’s definitely possible for us to look at changing aspects of the car for Budapest.
“How deep we go will depend on what parts we’ve got around us.
“There’s quite a lot that we’ve changed, so we’ve got a meeting with the drivers tomorrow to go through some of what we’ve done over the year to try to make sure that our efforts are focused on the right things and not just changing things for the sake of it.”
F1 immediately heads to the Hungarian Grand Prix for the final race before the sport’s summer break, watch live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime