2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[MB_Racer]

We talk about Max waiting to see who's the best next year. But we forget that if George takes the WDC home next year, the scenario for Max to join changes and likely doesn't materialize.

I disagree. If George wins WDC next year, a Max+George pairing for 2027 is a win-win for all concerned parties except ANT

Good point actually !

[MB_Racer]

So if I understand Sprint qualy clown show explanations there are:

1. Kimi was unlikely and because of the floor damage, he couldn’t qualify better than P20.

2. GR could have been much faster like FP shows but the floor damaged and wrong set up makes him P13?

So we might have a fast car but we are unlucky and didn’t do the correct settings on GR car ?

Am I understanding our excuses correctly ?

[zibby43]

Kimi is starting to run out of goodwill and quickly.

He looks outclassed and not at all ready for the seat. This could snowball quickly and I would hate to see his confidence forever dented.

[JPower]

Kimi is starting to run out of goodwill and quickly.

He looks outclassed and not at all ready for the seat. This could snowball quickly and I would hate to see his confidence forever dented.

No he's not. Given his age and experience, nothing about his struggles lately should be unexpected. It comes with the territory and the guy who gave him the shot should know that. If Toto wanted "reliable hands" Sainz was right there.

Taking a risk on youth means taking risk on the growing pains and slumps that come with hiring a teenage professional.

[venkyhere]

I can 't believe I am reading not just in F1 media, but here as well, about how Kimi's head should be on the chopping block.
This is his FIRST season. A rookie, talented, but yet to 'mature' not just physically/driving-craft wise, but psychologically as well.
If he is going to be treated like a seasoned driver in his first year in a new team, then it's a case of inability to understand different contexts.
The reason he was hired was - raw talent. That cannot by itself make him a great F1 driver, there are so many other things that need to go with it. Forget other aspects, even driving wise, there are so many tips and tricks he must learn, and because he isn't in a lower midfield car, but in Mercedes, the pressure on him is high. Personally, I consider Hadjar to be more talented, but that's beside the point I am trying to make. We can't be passing judgements on an 18/19 yr old this quickly. We can't be that fickle. I think social-media and 'scrolling for content' has reduced our attention span and patience, not just as F1 followers, but as a representative slice of humanity itself. The f1technical of 30 yrs ago, wouldn't have called for the head of Antonelli despite the recent poor runs. These are all teaching him 'what not to do' (he's a kid, don't expect him to learn from mistakes as quickly as a 25yr old man), and some of the DNFs were car related, even.

[Tonino]

Kimi isn’t the problem. We’ve seen what the kid can do *when he has the car*. Look at Canada. So stop with the BS narrative that Kimi is the problem. He’s shown the pace and the talent. The real issue is the absolute clown show in the aero department, run by a bunch of underachievers: Toto, James Allison, and Simone Resta. Utter failures so far this year.

Every upgrade has been either mid or a disaster, the car concept is still lost in space, and yet people want to pin it on the driver? Be serious. If Toto and his leadership team screw it up again next year, they should do the only respectable thing left, resign.

[GrizzleBoy]

Kimi is starting to run out of goodwill and quickly.

He looks outclassed and not at all ready for the seat. This could snowball quickly and I would hate to see his confidence forever dented.

Not seen that anywhere.

There's clearly been a readjustment from the messianic status he had for no reason.

People understand hes a kid in his first F1 season ever, at a point where margins are tighter than ever and where the margins to make inevitable small mistakes as a rookie dont exist.

[maygun]

Kimi isn’t the problem. We’ve seen what the kid can do *when he has the car*. Look at Canada. So stop with the BS narrative that Kimi is the problem. He’s shown the pace and the talent. The real issue is the absolute clown show in the aero department, run by a bunch of underachievers: Toto, James Allison, and Simone Resta. Utter failures so far this year.

Every upgrade has been either mid or a disaster, the car concept is still lost in space, and yet people want to pin it on the driver? Be serious. If Toto and his leadership team screw it up again next year, they should do the only respectable thing left, resign.

I also had high hopes for Kimi, but where did you see the pace and talent other than in one or two races? Most believe that George is not even one of the top 3 drivers in the current grid, and we are in round 13, and only 1 or 2 times Kimi beat George. And I don't see any improvements so far compared to the beginning of the season.

[SB15]

Kimi isn’t the problem. We’ve seen what the kid can do *when he has the car*. Look at Canada. So stop with the BS narrative that Kimi is the problem. He’s shown the pace and the talent. The real issue is the absolute clown show in the aero department, run by a bunch of underachievers: Toto, James Allison, and Simone Resta. Utter failures so far this year.

Every upgrade has been either mid or a disaster, the car concept is still lost in space, and yet people want to pin it on the driver? Be serious. If Toto and his leadership team screw it up again next year, they should do the only respectable thing left, resign.

I also had high hopes for Kimi, but where did you see the pace and talent other than in one or two races? Most believe that George is not even one of the top 3 drivers in the current grid, and we are in round 13, and only 1 or 2 times Kimi beat George. And I don't see any improvements so far compared to the beginning of the season.

It’s that rear suspension, their pace essentially dropped after the upgrade because that affected the car massively in the high and medium corners.

Ferrari seems to be suffering as well after they changed the suspension.

[mvfad]

Antonelli was a bit lucky earlier because the Mercedes was a faster/better car at the beginning of the season. So even if he was ~0.2s/0.3s behind Russell, he could easily make it into Q3 and still not be too far behind Russell on the starting grid. But when the Mercedes doesn't perform very well and other cars close in, his performance becomes questionable (because in this case, the difference is enough for one to get into Q3 and the other to stay in Q1).

[SB15]

It’s that rear suspension, their pace essentially dropped after the upgrade because that affected the car massively in the high and medium corners.

I will say it again

[zibby43]

I stand by my comments. He’s being outperformed by other rookies that are improving over the season is lesser machinery.

I didn’t say he should be dropped or anything absurd, as some of the replies seemed to suggest (kind of bizarre extrapolating there). Just that his goodwill has been used up. It’s time to perform. He had more private testing than any other rookie in history from what I can remember.

[mvfad]

(...) He had more private testing than any other rookie in history from what I can remember.

Just out of curiosity... Antonelli had over +20,000 km of private testing with old Mercedes cars before his debut (he spent the entire 2024 in private testing). Bortoleto, on the other hand, only had the 2024 post-season, the 2025 pre-season and one or two private testing sessions with an old Sauber car in January/February 2025 (he probably didn't even have 3,000 km of testing before his debut).

[Lasssept]

Just out of curiosity... Antonelli had over +20,000 km of private testing with old Mercedes cars

9 000km

Wolff also warned against “believing that the good test results will simply translate into the race,” as he revealed that Antonelli has driven 9,000km in tests. With a standard F1 race distance being 305km, it means the Italian has completed 29.5 race distances with Mercedes.

link

[mvfad]

It wasn't just 9,000, it was more than 20,000, maybe 30,000. If you don't want to believe it, that's fine.