George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff - Photo: Race Pictures

Mercedes confident they can ‘flip fine margins’ after Austin setback

16:18, 22 Oct

Updated: 17:15, 22 Oct

byOlly Darcy

Mercedes' Technical Director James Allison hopes that the team's "basic performance" will help "overcome the small margins" at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

"We want to get those fine margins moving in our direction so that hopefully we start near the sharp end of the grid."

- James Allison

The German team came into the United States Grand Prix off the back of George Russell's victory at the Singapore Grand Prix, as well as the official confirmation that Russell nd teammate Kimi Anotnelli would be lining up on the grid for Mercedes in 2026.

However, in Austin, the form from Singapore could not be brought across, with Russell only able to finish in P6, while a collision with Carlos Sainz saw Kimi Antonelli miss out on a top ten finish.

As teams now travel to Mexico City for the 20th race of the 2025 season, Allison believes that the correct execution will see Mercedes secure a vital amount of points in a tight constructors' championship battle.

George Russell currently sits P4 in the drivers' championship with 252 points - Photo: RacePictures.

"All we can do is just focus on preparing as carefully as we can for the weekend," Allison stated in Mercedes' Race Debrief after the Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas.

"[We want to] execute the weekend with zero mistakes and hope that we have enough basic performance to overcome the fine margins that went against us in Austin.

"Where we're P4 on the grid, with just a tiny blink of an eye of lap time between the front row and us, we want to get those fine margins moving in our direction so that hopefully we start near the sharp end of the grid, we race strongly, we don't get tangled up in first lap incidents, and we get to the flag with both our drivers having scored good points."

Mercedes 'relishing' constructors' fight

With just five more races to go in 2025, the battle for P2 in the constructors' standings is hotting up after McLaren sealed back-to-back titles at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Mercedes holds second spot with 341 points, with Ferrari just seven points behind on 334 points, thanks to a much-improved weekend in Texas. Red Bull sits on 331 points, just three points off Ferrari, with a resurgent Max Verstappen bidding for the drivers' championship.

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur expressed confidence that the Scuderia would be able to finish the season in second place after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took P3 and P4, respectively, in Austin.

However, Toto Wolff explained that the Mercedes camp are "relishing" the battle between the three teams, even with Allison admitting that no other upgrades will be brought by any teams for the rest of the season.

"We just keep trying to do that weekend after weekend, knowing that all our competitors are done with developing their cars," continued the Brit.

"We're pretty much done with developing our car. So it's just the stuff we bring, and just trying to execute it as well as we possibly can."

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