Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has lifted the lid on the factors behind the team’s commanding performance at the 2025 F1 Canadian GP, where George Russell stormed to victory and rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli joined him on the podium.
Russell’s win from pole marked his fourth in F1 and Mercedes’ first of the 2025 season. The Briton held off Max Verstappen throughout the race, while Antonelli’s third-place finish made him the third-youngest driver ever to reach an F1 podium. With 40 points scored in Montreal, Mercedes leapfrogged Ferrari to move into second in the Constructors’ standings, although they still trail leaders McLaren by a significant 175 points.
Hot pace despite cool conditions
Mercedes had not expected Montreal to suit the W16, especially as the cooler temperatures that tend to favour Mercedes did not arrive. Still, the team delivered its strongest performance of the year in sweltering conditions.
Wolff acknowledged the surprise, saying with a smile: “I thought it’s when I’m wearing a pullover, there’s some kind of correlation with our performances because that means it’s cold! And today, 50 degrees track temperature, and we’ve been dominant.”
Mercedes had been searching for answers all season, and while the heat usually works against their car’s characteristics, things clicked in Canada. Wolff was quick to highlight that there was more to it than just the weather.
“We’ve had some things changing on the car, we have a new rear suspension. I’m really happy how the team has managed that, the trackside team and also back in the factory, how these things have been coming onto the car. But I guess you need to look at the track layout.”
Montreal playing to Mercedes’ strengths
Mercedes have historically gone well at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, and Wolff believes the track characteristics once again played into their hands.
“Montreal was always good to us; it lacks the typical high-speed corners where we suffer more in the heat. That’s one, and number two is it’s quite a smooth asphalt here, which is less abrasive and therefore less damaging to our car that suffers from rear tyre degradation and overheating.”
That combination helped Mercedes manage their tyre wear better than rivals—a critical strength in what became a strategic race. The team also ran a revised rear suspension layout, which had been trialled unsuccessfully at Imola before being removed. In Canada, it delivered.
“I think we brought the new rear geometry for that particular problem that we had, the rear [tyre] surface overheating, and we weren’t quite sure about the results in Imola, because they were worse than we expected, and then taking it off I think was the right thing to do – and bringing it on here, because hopefully the development direction is correct.”
Hard work key to disrupting McLaren dominance
Although Mercedes appeared dominant in Montreal, Wolff downplayed the idea that a single upgrade had turned the team’s fortunes around.
“In these kind of regulations, you never know whether you land development or whether you don’t; correlation has been difficult, particularly for us, but for many other teams, and putting it on here is… I think there are other factors at play here. The track layout is just different, the asphalt is different, and there is never one magic solution that makes the car go from a, let’s say, best-case podium car to a dominant winner.”
He concluded, “But the more data sets we have, the more we learn.”
Eyes forward to Austria
Despite the success at the 2025 F1 Canadian GP, Wolff is keeping expectations measured ahead of the next round in Austria.
“I’m never confident, because the swings in performance are still there. We’ve seen it last year that on some tracks, it wasn’t even close to who was second, but we dominated throughout the weekend, and that’s a little bit the pattern we have seen here. Austria is going to be a different ballgame, different track layout, different challenges, so all of our eyes and brains are concentrated on Austria now. This is done, tick the box.”
Austria will pose a different kind of test for Mercedes, with its flowing high-speed corners and elevation changes. However, with Russell’s form and Antonelli’s rapid development adding to the momentum, Mercedes have reason to feel encouraged, despite Wolff’s caution.
