Wolff admits ‘catastrophic’ strategy calls doomed Mercedes

Sunday’s British Grand Prix was a race to forget for Mercedes, as a series of strategic missteps left the Silver Arrows and particularly George Russell floundering in the Silverstone rain.

The Briton salvaged a solitary point in his home race in tenth place, the only Mercedes driver to see the checkered flag, while teammate Kimi Antonelli’s afternoon ended early after a collision.

The Brackley squad’s uncustomary poor decision-making turned a promising weekend into a damp disaster, with team principal Toto Wolff and Russell left to dissect a catalogue of errors.

Qualifying had already hinted at challenges, with Russell starting fourth and Antonelli, penalized from the Austrian Grand Prix, lining up tenth. But Sunday’s wet and wild conditions exposed Mercedes’ vulnerabilities.

The team’s aggressive tyre strategy, particularly the decision to pit both drivers for slicks early in the race, backfired spectacularly, leaving them out of sync with the track’s evolving conditions. As rain ebbed and flowed, Mercedes’ miscalculations piled up, costing them a shot at a podium finish.

A Cascade of Costly Calls

The race began with a bold but ill-fated gamble. Mercedes opted to pit Russell for slick tires after the formation lap, anticipating a drying track. The move proved disastrous.

“Well, the driver is team. We're all in this together. But the first call, or the first decision from within the car and the people was terribly wrong,” Wolff admitted, taking collective responsibility.

The early stop triggered a chain reaction, with Antonelli following suit under a Virtual Safety Car, a decision that pushed the team further downwards.

“That kind of made us spiral from bad to worse, because that triggered the stop for Kimi,” added Wolff.

“When you see where Kimi was running, we should have simply kept him out with a split strategy and probably we would have been where Nico Hulkenberg was (third), because he was ahead of him.

“That's not to diminish Nico's driving, which from far away looked very good.”

From Bad to Worse

Mercedes’ woes continued as their tyre choices faltered.

“When we had the wrong tyre on the car, because we believed the medium wouldn't last with us, because Friday was so bad, another wrong decision,” noted the Mercedes boss.

“And then, obviously, the second stop was probably even more wrong than the first one, and that was basically the guillotine that fell.

“I think all of us together had a robust chat up there and everybody acknowledges that the first decision was actually the catastrophic one.”

Russell, however, defended the initial call to pit for slicks.

“I think pitting at the beginning was not a stupid decision because it was dry for 25 minutes,” he said, pointing to an early VSC that disrupted their strategy.

Yet, as the race progressed, Russell found himself mired in traffic, unable to capitalize on the car’s potential, as Wolff explained.

“I think by that stage he was stuck behind Gasly because the car's performance was poor and he wasn't able to pass. And then probably an act of being contrarian and doing something that is totally different than the others and hoping for a better outcome,” elaborated the Austrian.

• 2025 British Grand Prix - Race results

Antonelli’s race ended prematurely after Isack Hadjar rear-ended him, forcing the young Italian to retire. Russell, meanwhile, battled to the end but could only manage tenth, a meager reward for a weekend that promised so much more.

Mercedes wasn’t alone in struggling with Silverstone’s unpredictable weather, but their repeated misjudgments stood out in a race where others, like Hulkenberg, thrived through skill and sharp strategy.

As the Mercedes team heads back to its base, the focus will be on learning from Sunday’s dismal outing to ensure the Silver Arrows shine brighter in drier days ahead.

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