George Russell offered an honest assessment of his F1 Abu Dhabi GP, bringing the 2025 Formula 1 season to a close. He described the race as one of Mercedes’ weakest performances of the year, but despite the struggles, they secured P2 in the Constructors’ Championship, a result the Brit emphasised as the most important takeaway from an otherwise difficult race.
He finished a whopping 25s behind Charles Leclerc at the end.
“I mean, the race was pretty dreadful, to be honest. We had zero pace,” Russell admitted in the print media pen, recalling a race in which he found himself unable to mount any sport of challenge. “I was down in fifth, which is not horrendous, but the pace was terrible and when you see Kimi was down in 15th.”
While the result was far from what Mercedes had hoped for, Russell admitted the team ultimately achieved what mattered most.
“It was not a great way to finish the year, but at the end of the day we had a goal, which was finish P2 in the Teams Championship, we achieved it. Very glad its come to a close now.”
Happy for Norris’ Championship win
Russell reflected on Lando Norris’ title victory at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP, a moment with special significance given that both drivers entered Formula 1 in the same era and rose through the junior ranks as long-time rivals and compatriots.
“I’m really happy for him, honestly,” Russell said. “Maybe when I was a bit younger and not as mature, I think you’d be envy of sort of a rival and fellow countryman to win. But honestly, I think the older we get, you recognise how difficult it is to sustain a certain level in this sport. We never know when our opportunity is going to come.
“I’m sure he wasn’t aware his chance was going to be this year and the second half of the year especially he’s driven really incredibly, so I’m happy for him and I think he deserves it.”
Lack of pace left him helpless
Russell admitted that he knew almost immediately that Mercedes lacked the performance needed to attack the cars ahead in the F1 Abu Dhabi GP.
“No, to be honest after about 4 laps I realised we didn’t have the pace, we knew we didn’t have the pace today honestly. We all expected Max to back people up a little bit more, but the truth is when we went around it this morning there was very little Max could have done.”
One of the standout surprises of the race was Ferrari’s unexpectedly strong pace. Charles Leclerc managed to challenge Norris at points of the race and finished P4, while Lewis Hamilton started in P16 and crossed the chequered flag in P8.
“Yeah, I was very surprised to be honest. I mean, Ferrari do show signs of really great speed at random points. I think we were probably more surprised how weak our pace was, myself down in fifth, Kimi down in fifteenth it’s pretty abnormal. So, as I said, I’m glad this era has come to a close.”
