Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has revealed the team is targeting more victories in Formula 1 in 2025 after recovering from a mid-season dip.
The German marque made a strong start to the season with four podiums in the first six races and a win for George Russell at the Canadian Grand Prix.
However, the European leg of the 2025 season hasn’t held up the same level of performances and results for the Brackley-based squad.
Mercedes had opted to fit a revised rear suspension on the W16 from Imola onwards, but it seems that, that was where all the trouble began.
For the Hungarian GP, last weekend, the Silver Arrows decided to revert back to an older-spec configuration after feedback from its drivers, especially Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
A podium finish for Russell after the 70-lap race makes Shovlin believe that this decision could turn out to be crucial for the team’s competitiveness post the summer break.
“If we make a new suspension, we’re doing it to make the car go quicker,” he said on Mercedes’ YouTube channel. “Clearly there’s something that wasn’t right.
“There’s areas where the drivers said the car is definitely better with that suspension, but when it came to stability in the fast corners – some of the corners where they’re having to carry a lot of speed on entry – they didn’t have confidence to push the car like they would like to.
“We always try to make things that improve the pace of the car – this didn’t. A lot of the work that has gone on now is to understand exactly what is it that has caused that problem.
“It’s not something that’s dead obvious, otherwise we wouldn’t have had that issue in the first place.”
Mercedes eyeing more race victories
The 2025 campaign will resume as normal from the Dutch Grand Prix onwards, with 10 rounds still to go this season.
And with all the teams eyeing the 2026 regulations now, the second half of the season will boil down to which teams can maximise the package they had going into the break.
With a more stable car with the pre-Imola suspension attached, Shovlin is optimistic that it can propel the likes of Antonelli and Russell further up the grid.
“Budapest showed that we’ve got a good car when we land it in the right place,” he continued.
“And then hopefully, there’ll be an opportunity to build on our tally of race wins.
“So we had a great time in Montreal. There’s other circuits that are a bit more like that coming up over the remaining ten races. And hopefully, we’ll have a few more highlights.”
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