Russell picks out last Mercedes win hope with ‘obvious’ race targeted

George Russell has picked the Las Vegas Grand Prix as an “obvious” race where Mercedes can hope to be competitive after a frustrating 2025 season so far.

Of the top four teams, it is Mercedes that seem most at odds with their car with Russell scoring an average of 15.5 points in the first six races only for that number to drop to 10.1 in the last 10.

George Russell pinpoints race for final Mercedes chance

The result is Russell having gone from a contender for P3 with Max Verstappen to 36 points behind the Dutchman even with Red Bull having their worst year of the ground effect era.

The European season has been particularly tough for Mercedes and while rookie Kimi Antonelli managed just three points at races on the continent, Russell did at least score 76 points in that timeframe.

But with the sweeping regulations of 2026 drawing closer and closer, Russell and Mercedes’ competitiveness looks set to only go in one direction as the season continues and the 27-year-old said it was “difficult to understand” why the year was going the way that it is.

“It’s difficult to understand the sport at the moment,” he said in Monza. “When you look at Verstappen finishing 40 seconds off the win in Hungary and then winning by 20 seconds here and by 20 seconds in Imola. I struggle to comprehend that swing performance.

“If we finished 12 seconds behind McLaren in a normal race that’s a pretty, pretty successful race. Ferrari is strong right now and on Saturdays are really close as well. One tenth faster or one tenth slower can lead to different positions.”

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Asked whether there were any circuits left that he was optimistic about, Russell highlighted the season’s third and final US race, the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Last season, Mercedes took advantage of the colder temperatures to dominate with the team scoring their first one-two since 2022 as Russell beat Lewis Hamilton.

“Vegas is a bit of an obvious one for us. I hope we can repeat last year’s performance. But no, there’s not really any other [track to be optimistic about].”

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