Mercedes have ‘confused themselves’ with one major problem that caused Monaco Grand Prix disaster

Mercedes have seen an alarming drop in performance during the first European triple header of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The team had built a sizeable gap over their rivals in second in the constructors’ championship. However, since returning to Europe, Mercedes have only scored six points in the last two races.

George Russell could only manage seventh at Imola while Kimi Antonelli suffered his first retirement in F1. The home hero lacked performance all weekend as he was knocked out in Q2 alongside the Ferraris.

The Monaco Grand Prix was even more disastrous. Antonelli crashed in qualifying, which left him P15 for the race, while Russell also failed to reach Q3.

With Monaco being almost impossible to overtake on and Mercedes starting so far back, the pair could not make up ground in the race. They were not helped by Racing Bulls and Williams’ smart strategy of bunching up the field to bridge a gap for their car out in front.

Russell got tired of sitting in traffic and passed Albon off the track by cutting the Nouvelle chicane, even stating he would take any penalty given to him. But Russell was hit with a drive-through penalty, which left him finishing 11th, while Antonelli languished in 18th.

Mercedes have ‘confused themselves’ with the Pirelli C6 tyre after Monaco disaster

Starting at Imola, Pirelli have brought the C6 tyre to the last two Grand Prix – the softest compound in F1. The nature of the tyre has been difficult to grasp for some teams; it was a major reason why Ferrari struggled in qualifying on home soil.

Mercedes are another team that are ‘scratching their heads’ over the tyre. Speaking via the ams.F1 YouTube channel, journalist Michael Schmidt says the Silver Arrows have ‘confused themselves’ over the issue as they have to compromise their setup to adapt to the tyre.

“At Mercedes, they have another problem right now and people are scratching their heads and not really knowing why it is like this,” he said.

“It’s actually only been Imola for two races now. It certainly has something to do with the very soft tyre compounds and for fear of overheating either the front tyre or the rear tyre, they have to make compromises in terms of setup.

“The car is simply not as fast as it should be and as it was in the first races. That’s the way it is, they haven’t brought any upgrades so far, so it’s not like they did anything wrong.

“It’s actually the same car that looked very strong at the beginning. Well, they’ve confused themselves a bit and now they have to get out of this situation.”

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The Pirelli C6 tyre is the least of Mercedes’ worries after the Monaco Grand Prix

Jacques Villeneuve branded Mercedes ’embarrassing’ in Monaco as they failed to score points for the first time since Australia 2024. Rivals Red Bull and Ferrari are now four and five points behind respectively, blowing the fight for P2 wide open.

The C6 tyre will return for the Canadian GP in June, giving the team some time to adapt to the compound, but that is the least of their worries. Mercedes have a ‘serious reliability issue’ with ride height that will need resolving if they want to stay ahead of their rivals.

Toto Wolff admitted Mercedes’ upgrades may not have worked during their return to Europe. This will have been a key factor in their drop in performance, but there has also been a noticeable flaw from the drivers, particularly Antonelli.

Peter Windsor felt Antonelli was ‘concerning’ in Monaco as he suffered two accidents over the weekend at apexes. A lapse in concentration over the last two races has been costly for the Italian; the team will certainly want to see an improvement.