Mercedes have been left scratching their heads after suffering their “worst performance of the year” at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

After 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell challenged for pole position, Mercedes endured a disappointing and rather anonymous race in Jeddah. The Briton slipped from third on the grid to a distant fifth, ahead of rookie teammate168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Kimi Antonelli.

Russell ended up half a minute down on the front with fifth and sixth representing Mercedes’ joint-🐠worst result of the 2025 season so far.

More conceဣrning was the Silver Arrows’ gen🐠eral lack of race pace, something which left team principal Toto Wolff perplexed.

“It was clearly o✃ur worst performance of the year so far,” Wolff said. “The pace just 𒁃dropped away with blistering, overheating tyres and so far we haven’t got an explanation.”

“You manage your expectations being the second quickest - and even that is not obviously what we would wish to achieve - and then you see the race panning🎃 out like it did.

"It just adds🙈 to the frustration of t𓆏he situation.”

Despite their underwhelming performance in Saudi Arabia, Mercedes remain a solid second in the constructors’ championship on 111 points, 77 adrift of leaders M꧂cLaren.

George Russell’s tyres felt like a balloon

Russell blamed overheating for his lack of pace, explaining that his tyres fe𝓡lt like “a balloon” in the closing stages. He was heard airing conc🦩erns about a potential failure over team radio as he nursed his tyres to the end.

“I was pushing hard to stay with Max at the beginning of the s📖econd stint,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “But I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold on and we fell off that cliff towards the🀅 end.

“I🐷 was dropping a second a lap in the last 15 laps, but to be fair, we just didn’t have the pace and even if𓄧 I had managed more, I think I still would have come home in P5.

“We know that it’s a bit of a weakness of our car at the moment. And coming home P5  on a bad day -🌟 we’ll take it - but we need to try and improve it quickly.

“It’s about how fast we're going through these corners, and for whatever reason, 🧸we've generated more temperature꧙ than our rivals.

“Then sud𓆏denly you get to a point where the tyres are like a b🥀alloon. We had blistering on the front, blistering on the rear, and then suddenly you just have no grip from the tyre at all.”