Mercedes F1 drivers summoned to team HQ for 'emergency meeting'

Mercedes stars Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have been told to head back to the team's Brackley base between races this week.

While the latter picked up a middling points haul in Belgium for his fifth place finish, the Silver Arrows looked uncharacteristically uncompetitive at Spa, with Antonelli in particular struggling.

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

Antonelli fared even worse, was knocked out of both qualifying sessions prematurely and failed to pick up a single point across the entire weekend in Spa.

After a negative weekend, Motorsport.com reports that both drivers have been summoned to an emergency meeting at their Brackley base, where they will attempt to identify the cause of their performance drop-off.

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 other aspects of the car that have also changed.

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Mercedes suffer 2025 decline

Mercedes and Russell started the 2025 season off strong, with the British driver securing four podium finishes in the first five rounds.

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 had been able to muster is fifth, as they gradually slip behind Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.

Ferrari 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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