Toto Wolff believes F1 rivals hold early ‘performance advantage’ in Australian GP
11th March 2025Mercedes Formula 1 Team Principal Toto Wolff claims the team’s rivals will hold a ‘performance advantage’ as they head into the 2025 season-opener.
Feature image credit: Mercedes F1
Mercedes will head to Australia for the season-opener at Melbourne’s Albert Park in a new era. 2025 will be the team’s first season without Lewis Hamilton, who moved to Ferrari this season.
In his place stands Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a promising rookie, who will partner George Russell as they create an all-Mercedes Academy driver line-up.
However, the team boss, Wolff, believes the team will be off the pace compared to their rivals after three days of testing in Bahrain. Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, he said:
“As a team, we had an uphill challenge over the winter. Our competitors finished 2024 strongly and we know that Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren in particular, should have a performance advantage over us initially.
“We can be pleased with the work we have done in the off-season, and the test in Bahrain.”
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The team performed relatively well in testing nearly two weeks ago, with Russell going fastest on the final day of the test, beating his second-best finish on day 2.
However, the time sheets are not fully representative, no matter how promising they look, as the pre-season event falls under the usual caveat of “it’s testing.” Nevertheless, the true pecking order of the 2025 field will be much clearer this weekend, after qualifying on Saturday.
Wolff confirmed that both Antonelli and Russell ‘commented favourably’ on their 2025 machinery after the three-day test at the end of February.
“Both drivers commented favourably on the W16 after the three days, and we seem to have made improvements,” Wolff continued.
“Of course, the only thing that matters is how we measure up against the stopwatch relative to our competitors. We will certainly begin to get a clearer picture on that this weekend.”
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
