Mercedes have had a strong start to the 2025 Formula 1 season, scoring two podiums in the opening three races. Team Principal Toto Wolff was absent at the Japanese Grand Prix. Team Representative Bradley Lord spoke with the media in his place after the race. Lord reviewed Mercedes’ performance in relation to recent years and the rest of the field.
Does Lord think Mercedes are in contention for the Constructors this year after the F1 Japanese GP?
After the first three races of the season, Mercedes currently sit second in the championship, 36 points behind McLaren. Lord gave his overview of the championship at this early stage in the season.
“We’re second in the Championship after three races, albeit quite a long way behind McLaren already. They’ve clearly got the, on average, fastest car and we’ll learn a chunk more next weekend in Bahrain, which, more like Melbourne, is a much more rear-limited circuit but very, very demanding on the tyres as well. Completely different conditions.”
When asked about the team’s chances of winning their ninth Constructors’ title, Lord noted how consistency throughout the long season will determine this. He also emphasised that a versatile car is key to this.
“It’ll be the car that works best across the range of circuits that is likely to become the champion at the end.
“We certainly had a really solid start, and we know we’ve got things coming in the pipeline that we’re looking forward to bringing to the car. We’re just looking to maximise each weekend.”
Consistency across the 24 race season will be a factor, but also across all sessions in a race weekend. Lord gave an example for how an underperformance in one part of Russell’s qualifying session at the Japanese GP made an impact on the weekend’s result.
“Even this weekend, George, we ultimately maximised everything apart from the run two of Q3. Frustratingly, that was what dictated the outcome of the weekend. We’re certainly keeping on pushing and haven’t given up hope.”
Russell qualified in P5 on Saturday in Suzuka, but was ultimately unable to move up the field.
Overtaking was at a premium at the Japanese GP. The race ended up with the top six of the grid finishing in the order that they qualified. This demonstrates the importance of maximising each session.
McLaren pace out of reach
Mercedes driver George Russell has given strong praise to McLaren for their car development since the start of the season.
During the season’s opening race at the Australian Grand Prix, Russell revealed how he believed the McLaren car is already so strong that they no longer need to develop their car to remain competitive this year.
Despite looking strong, McLaren were unable to beat the Red Bull of Max Verstappen at the Japanese GP. Despite being beaten in qualifying and unable to overtake Verstappen in the race, both McLaren drivers reached the podium at the Japanese GP.
Lord does not predict that McLaren’s strong form will change at the next race in Bahrain.
“They still look the class of the field and the reference as well. I’m sure it will look very similar to that in Bahrain, given how strong they were in the heat in Melbourne too. Let’s not jump on this one win as proof that a trend has completely changed. I think, on average, McLaren is still very much the fastest car.”
Mercedes turned a new leaf with W16
Finally managing to move on from the struggles of the Mercedes cars of recent years, Lord shared at the Japanese GP how the W16 does not seem to suffer from the same issues.
“I think Shov [Andrew Shovlin] talked about it on Friday a little bit, saying this is a car that hasn’t got any of the vices of its predecessors. It’s a much more solid platform.”
Lord shared how his drivers have more confidence in this car than its previous editions. This is due to the team have built a more versatile car.
“It’s one that’s given the drivers confidence on all types of circuits. You can see that from George from the off and how Kimi was also able to build into the weekend.”
When asked specifically how the new car treats its rear tyres, Lord shared that he feels there is room for improvement.
“In terms of rear tyre temps and how we are performing there, I think we still feel we’ve got progress to make. There’s still margin for improvement.”
This weekend, the Bahrain GP will be the second race in the season’s first triple-header. It is also where pre-season testing took place. Although the teams already have experience with their cars on this circuit, the weather was uncharacteristically cool for the location during testing. There were even threats of rain at times. As such, the testing sessions were not representative of a typical race weekend.
Lord looks forward to returning to Bahrain to get a better understanding of the rear of the car’s performance in hot conditions.
“We’ll get a much clearer read on that in Bahrain as well. It’s obviously warmer track conditions, but also much more demanding on the rear axle.”
