Toto Wolff knows ‘key’ Mercedes must find for George Russell to deny Oscar Piastri the 2025 F1 title

George Russell trails Oscar Piastri by 38 points in the drivers’ standings ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, but Mercedes are not giving up on the title ‘yet’.

Silver Arrows team principal Toto Wolff is confident that his Brackley natives know ‘the key’ issue currently preventing Russell from adding Grand Prix wins to his tentative title hopes in 2025. Consistency has been central to his possible challenge so far after the first six rounds.

Russell is the only driver to finish every Grand Prix, Sprint and qualifying session so far in the 2025 F1 season in the top five positions. The 27-year-old has even finished on the podium in four Grands Prix, with second place in Bahrain and third place in Australia, Japan and Miami.

Mercedes must improve their tyre management for George Russell to fight for the 2025 F1 title

Wolff regards Russell as one of the top-three F1 drivers in 2025, as well, after he produced a perfect performance in the Chinese Grand Prix. But the Mercedes boss accepts his team are still ‘significantly behind’ McLaren in managing the Pirelli tyres and it is holding Russell back.

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But after Red Bull dominated the early stages of the 2024 season before McLaren surpassed the Milton Keynes team to win the F1 constructors’ championship, Wolff feels Mercedes can enjoy a similar uplift to make Russell a real title contender if they fix their tyre management.

“Our goal is always to win races and compete for a world championship,” Wolff told OE24. “To achieve that, we’re missing a lot compared to the leader, McLaren, and we have to get that under control. The car is fast, if not the fastest, on a single lap.

“Only in tyre management are we significantly behind… We’re only a quarter of the way through, so we don’t have to write off the world championship yet. Last year showed how quickly things can change.

“At the beginning, Red Bull won the most races. But after the third European GP, ​​things didn’t go well. If we find the key to proper tyre management, we’ll be in contention for victories again, and that can happen quickly.”

George Russell could strengthen his Mercedes contract stance with a 2025 F1 title bid

Russell will know Mercedes have strong single-lap pace after Andrea Kimi Antonelli became F1’s youngest-ever polesitter in Miami when he topped the timesheets in Sprint Qualifying. But Russell has not yet extracted the W16’s potential as consistently as he would like so far.

So, the Briton will also want to use Mercedes’ current deficit to McLaren as a chance to find more single-lap pace before the W16 is potentially a title-contending package. He must also stay consistent in the races to stop Piastri getting too far ahead before Mercedes are ready.

Launching a title bid after also emerging as Mercedes’ team leader following Lewis Hamilton leaving for Ferrari and the arrival of rookie Antonelli could even be huge for his future. Wolff is waiting for Max Verstappen to decide his Red Bull future before giving Russell a new deal.