Mercedes pair saw George Russell holding up at front and Andrea Kimi Antonelli fighting his way back in F1 Las Vegas GP, as they and Toto Wolff reflect.
It was a good start for Mercedes’ Russell in F1 Las Vegas GP when he made the most of Lando Norris’ wide moment to take second. In fact, the Brit hustled Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the lead early on, but that turned out to be a mistake from him in longer scheme of things.
He seemingly used up his tyre which resulted in graining and he lost that momentum. He faced the same steering issue as he did in Q3 on Saturday, but managed to drive around it. It was too late eventually as Norris started to close in on him, especially in the second stint.
He eventually lost second to Norris and was left to defend his place on the podium. Surprisingly, it was against teammate Antonelli, who climbed up to fourth after his bold one-stop strategy as a gamble using the soft compound in combination with the hard.
It was not easy for the Italian as he had Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc chasing him for fourth in the dying stages, but he eventually on. Unfortunately, he carried a 5s time penalty due to false start, which he didn’t realise on the grid. Replays showed a minor rolling of the car, but enough to raise alaram.
Fortunately, Antonelli had strong pace and he managed to eke out enough against Leclerc to only lose one place to Piastri. It eventually was third for the Italian after double disqualification of McLaren. Russell got second place back to make it a double podium for the Mercedes pair.
Team boss Wolff had praise for Antonelli’s drive in Las Vegas, even though the strategy was not entirely decided to be one-stop from the get go. He agreed on Russell’s situation in terms of tyre usage, but felt a bit down on result considering how they were P1 and P2 in 2024.
Russell noted on the consistency of Mercedes throughout the course of F1 2025, which he feels was better than 2024 where they picked up pace on certain tracks and struggled on some unlike the current season where they were even in a lot of events to be fighting for second in the standings.
Race –
Russell: “Well, I had the same steering issue as I had yesterday after about five laps. But after probably four laps after the issue, I was managing to drive around it. The pace was not bad in the first stint. Obviously made a good start. Probably only a tenth or so slower than Max in that first stint. Then after the pit stop, I saw that opportunity to attack and just pushed really hard for two laps, and I destroyed my tyres. I knew with about 16 laps to go—or probably 20—it was going to be very challenging to get to the end. So it wasn’t very enjoyable, to be honest, because I just couldn’t get around left-hand corners.”
Antonelli: “Yeah, I mean, I was talking to the tyre in the last 20 laps, every lap on the straight, I was just asking them to ‘please hold on until the end’. I was a bit concerned with the graining through the race, but eventually, once I was in the free air, especially on the last lap, and thanks to some advice from the team on driving, the graining started to clean up a little bit. We were able to hold on, and actually, the laps kept getting faster and faster.
“It was just a shame we started so far back, but that is part of the learning, and now we move on and focus on the next two races. I was…especially three laps to the end, inside I was like, maybe I was going to get P6 with the penalty but the pace just getting faster and faster, Charles started to struggle bit more in dirty air, yeah I was able to pull a gap that was big enough to keep at least P5, of course, bit annoying that we lost P4 but now we need to focus on the next one.”
Wolff: “Yeah, I’m always wary about being too happy about a P3, P5 (P2 and P3), which is a respectable result, but no more and no less than that, considering that we’ve been with two cars, P1, P2 last year, so it’s been closer to end of this year, but yeah, not as good as last year.”
Going hard in first stint cost –
Russell: “I don’t know, to be honest. You can always have that debate. But honestly, if I was sat in Lando’s position now, it doesn’t change anything for me. I want to fight for victories. I saw that half an opportunity. I thought Max was going to struggle a bit more on his out lap, and I had to go for it. And if I nursed my tyres in those laps, I’d be sitting here still in P3, maybe wondering if only I could have attacked when I had the opportunity. So no regrets. It just wasn’t an enjoyable race.”
Wolff: “Yeah, the second time, the steering wheel doesn’t come back when opening the wheel at the exit of the corner, and we need to see also what it was, because we changed the parts overnight, and it didn’t make a big difference. As for tyres, yeah, I don’t know, I’m not sure. We either overstressed the tyres, right at the beginning being in Max’s tow, trying to overtake or trying to hold on, or, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that, actually managed the tyres too much. Because he miscarried the graining phase, and the graining went away. At that stage, I’m not able to say what actually happened on the tyres, but it could be either of.”
Performance level of Mercedes –
Russell: “I think we have a car this year that’s just more consistent over 24 races. I think our car last year was either exceptionally strong or exceptionally weak. And that’s really why we had more highlight moments last year as a team. But over 24 races, we scored substantially less points. So, of course, you want to win races, but the goal ultimately is to score as many points as possible in a season. And we have a car this year that has given us a substantially better opportunity to achieve that than we had 12 months ago.”
Start issues –
Antonelli: “Yeah, it was quite tricky. My suggestion is that I rolled a little bit but I didn’t really feel it in the car, so just need to review the onboard and understand what was the issue.”
Wolff: “Yeah, so we couldn’t spot anything on the clutch, nor anything that would have pointed us to an irregular start, but the FIA have sensors, so let’s see what they said. For me, but I’m the only one here, seemed to have seen that there was a little bit of a movement, but it wasn’t definitely releasing the clutch or getting off the brake pedal, so we shall see what the FIA says.”
Strategy, helping out –
Antonelli: “Well, I got to within 20 laps of the end, and the team radioed to say I was on Plan B, so I knew I would have to go until the end. Obviously, I was trying to manage the tyres. I felt quite comfortable in the last 10 laps with Oscar close behind, but the graining started to clean up and the pace got stronger and stronger. So I was feeling comfortable. Yeah, we managed to stick it.
“[As for helping George], to be fair, I was trying to do my race. If I have to be really honest, I was trying to catch him as well. I was doing my race, I was just trying to maximise the result because it was important to get points for the team. I don’t know if it helped George, the fact that I kept those two behind but I was just thinking about myself and happy with the result, just need to go like this.”
Antonelli’s run –
Wolff: “I think starting P17 pretty much on the defense with an aggressive stop at the beginning, I’m not sure that we thought it was realistic at the beginning, but then he went quicker and quicker and quicker and cleared the graining, and at the end, a super well-deserved P5, even with the penalty, so I don’t know what that could have been starting from a better position. I think he’s 19 years old, and we always said that the first season can be difficult. And that’s what we’ve seen at times. He’s been parachuted in one of the big teams, hasn’t known many of the Grand Prixs, and the pressure that comes upon him. And that’s why that’s what I expected in terms of trajectory. But next year is going to be completely different.
“Of course, I’m new for all of the drivers. Not only for him, he’s been at the circuits, he’s travelled, he’s experienced the pressures that come upon you when you’re a driver. He’s going to be one year older and more mature, so it’s all according to plan. And yeah, I never questioned that decision actually throughout the season, because we’ve always said that we expected it to be full of ups and downs and a moment of brilliance, and a moment where you want to tear your hair out. So this is not the end of the development, this is still at very early stages, and I hope we’re going to see more from Kiwi next year, solid performances, and in the many years to come, hopefully.”
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-formula-1-las-vegas-gp-verstappen-seizes-lead-as-norris-runs-wide-in-dramatic-start.1849555190074067783
Here’s Lando Norris on George Russell