When Lewis Hamilton announced his bombshell move to Ferrari for 2025, Mercedes eventually turned to its own ranks by effectively handing George Russell the role of leading the team forward, while the squad accelerated its programme around junior phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli to prepare the Italian teenager for an earlier than planned F1 debut.
In their first year together, it has been difficult to gauge Mercedes' relative performance compared to its rivals, with team chief Toto Wolff calling the W16 a "surprise box" that yielded two wins but also plenty of mediocre weekends. What didn't help was a suspension update that led the team astray for several weeks, before the Brackley squad reverted to its baseline.
