Russell and Antonelli summoned to Mercedes HQ for ‘emergency meeting’ ahead of Hungarian GP

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have been summoned to Mercedes’ F1 base in Brackley for an ‘emergency meeting’ ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Despite a fifth place finish for Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix, it was clear that Mercedes had taken a step back in competitiveness at Spa.

Following Sunday’s race, Russell appeared baffled by their lack of pace and claimed they were a tenth away from facing a double Q1 exit on Saturday.

Russell’s team-mate Antonelli fared even worse and was knocked out of both qualifying sessions prematurely last weekend, failing to pick up a single point in Spa.

After a less than ideal weekend, Russell revealed to Sky F1 that Mercedes would be holding a meeting with the Silver Arrows designers and engineers ahead of the final round in Hungary this weekend before F1's summer shutdown.

"We've just had no pace recently, we need to sit down, all of us, we're going to have a big meeting this week with all the designers and engineers to understand the decisions we've made in recent weeks or months and why we've gone backwards.

"Hoping for some improvements in Hungary," the Brit declared.

Motorsport.com further detailed the agenda, reporting that both drivers had been summoned to an 'emergency meeting' at their Brackley base, where Mercedes would attempt to identify the cause of their performance drop-off.

Mercedes suffer 2025 decline

Mercedes suspects that some of the changes made to the car in recent grands prix has destabilised the balance of the car, with their director of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin still trying to find the specific alteration.

Russell also theorised that the FIA’s flexi-wing directive in Spain may have influenced their downturn in performance, the point in time when he claims Mercedes took a step backwards. However, Shovlin has urged caution on blaming this facet entirely and suggests there are other aspects of the car that have also changed.

Mercedes and Russell started the 2025 season off strong, with the 27-year-old securing three podium finishes in the first four rounds of the campaign.

Antonelli has also enjoyed success, claiming his first F1 pole position in Miami whilst joining Russell on the podium at the Canadian GP.

However, since Montreal, the best result either driver has been able to muster is fifth, as they gradually slip behind Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.

The Scuderia have also introduced upgrades in recent races, bringing a new floor to Austria and a new rear suspension in Belgium, where Charles Leclerc claimed his fifth podium of 2025.

Shovlin highlighted how important the meeting was at Brackley in discerning which changes to make for the Hungarian GP this weekend, and said: "It's possible to change some things ahead of Budapest.

"How much we go in depth will depend on the components we have available. We've changed a lot recently, so meeting with the drivers will be important to analyse everything we've done throughout the year and make sure our efforts are focused on the right areas, without changing things just for the sake of it."

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