The Mercedes Formula One Team entered the 2025 Formula 1 season under immense pressure. Still struggling to master the ground-effect regulations introduced in 2022, the team faced a defining transition year. For the first time in over a decade, Mercedes lined up without seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who made his high-profile move to Scuderia Ferrari, leaving a leadership vacuum at Brackley.

That vacuum placed George Russell firmly in the spotlight. Tasked with becoming Mercedes’ lead driver, Russell faced the biggest test of his Formula 1 career. Alongside him was teenage prodigy Kimi Antonelli, promoted as part of a bold long-term gamble that could either accelerate the rebuild or expose the team’s instability.

Instead, Mercedes delivered its strongest campaign of the post-2021 era. Russell secured two race victories and nine podium finishes, demonstrating consistency and control under pressure, while Antonelli emerged as one of the standout rookies of 2025 with three podiums of his own. Together, they powered Mercedes to second place in the Constructors’ Championship, re-establishing the team as a genuine front-runner.

Off track, the drama was just as intense. Speculation mounted when Team Principal Toto Wolff was linked with a potential pursuit of Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing. Contract rumours swirled around Russell before he ultimately secured an extension, raising questions about team hierarchy and long-term stability.

With sweeping new Formula 1 regulations arriving in 2026, the biggest question now looms: can Mercedes convert momentum into dominance and return to championship-winning form?

Featuring real race commentary, driver clips, and in-depth performance analysis, this episode breaks down Mercedes’ 2025 season and what it all means for the future of the Silver Arrows.

About the Series: Over ten episodes, Grand Pricks explores every 2025 Formula 1 team in depth, unpacking the drama, decisions, and defining moments, both on track and behind closed doors. Starting from last place in the Constructors' Championship to first, we reveal the stories you didn't see on race day.

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Red Bull Racing has long been known in Formula 1 for its ruthlessness, aggressive decision-making, and win-at-all-costs mentality, the very traits that built one of the sport’s most dominant eras. With Max Verstappen securing four consecutive Drivers’ Championships by 2024 and the team claiming back-to-back Constructors’ titles in 2022 and 2023, Red Bull defined modern F1 dominance. But somewhere along the line, that dominance began to slip. Rival teams closed the gap, the grid became more competitive, and for Red Bull, second place was never going to be acceptable.

The 2025 Formula 1 season brought chaos, controversy, and headline after headline for the Milton Keynes outfit. Just two races into the season, Liam Lawson was abruptly demoted from the senior team to its sister outfit, Racing Bulls, switching seats with Yuki Tsunoda. Once again, the infamous Red Bull “second seat” lived up to its cursed reputation, as Tsunoda also struggled to extract consistent performance from the car.

Verstappen’s own start to the 2025 season was filled with frustration. By the halfway point, he found himself nearly 100 points behind Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship standings, hampered by an inconsistent and difficult car that prevented him from performing at his usual dominant standard. For the first time in years, his title defence looked out of reach. But you can never discount Max Verstappen. What followed was one of the most remarkable comeback charges in recent F1 history, as he clawed back points race after race, ultimately finishing the season just two points shy of another world championship.

And then came the biggest shock of all. After 20 years at the helm, Team Principal Christian Horner was dramatically dismissed amid the team’s underperformance and a scandal that had followed him since February 2024. He was replaced by former Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies, marking the end of an era and the beginning of a significant power shift within the organisation.

Now, as Red Bull enters the 2026 season with sweeping regulation changes, its first in-house power unit project, a refreshed driver line-up featuring Isack Hadjar alongside Verstappen, and new leadership at the top, the team stands at a crossroads. Can Red Bull reclaim its dominance in this new era of Formula 1, or were the cracks exposed in 2025 signs of a deeper decline?

Featuring real race commentary, driver clips, narration, and in-depth discussion, this episode breaks down the drama, the politics, the comeback, and the future of one of F1’s most ruthless teams.

About the Series: Over ten episodes, Grand Pricks explore every 2025 Formula 1 team in depth, unpacking the drama, decisions, and defining moments, both on track and behind closed doors. Starting from last place in the Constructors' Championship to first, we reveal the stories you didn't see on race day.

New episodes weekly. Subscribe now.

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@grandprickspodcast

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Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton. Two of the biggest names in Formula 1 history. One partnership that was supposed to change everything.

When Lewis Hamilton made the shock move to Ferrari for the 2025 season, it felt like destiny, a seven-time world champion joining the most iconic team in F1. A legacy move. A title-winning dream. But instead of glory, Ferrari’s 2025 season unravelled into chaos.

Hamilton himself has called it a “nightmare” season, plagued by strategy blunders, communication breakdowns, and growing tension with his race engineer. Alongside him, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s long-time golden boy, continues to shoulder frustration as he heads into his eighth season with the team in 2026, still chasing an elusive world championship.

In this episode, we break down Ferrari’s leadership confusion, questionable strategy calls, and the immense pressure facing team principal Fred Vasseur from both the boardroom and the tifosi. From race-day disasters to off-track dysfunction, we ask the hard questions:

Has Ferrari failed Lewis Hamilton? Is this partnership already beyond saving? And could 2026 decide not just Ferrari’s future, but the end of Hamilton’s legendary F1 career?

In Maranello, the red flags are impossible to ignore, and Ferrari’s truth is finally catching up with them.

About the Series: Over ten episodes, Grand Pricks explores every 2025 Formula 1 team in depth, unpacking the drama, decisions, and defining moments, both on track and behind closed doors. Starting from last place in the Constructors' Championship to first, we reveal the stories you didn't see on race day.

New episodes weekly. Subscribe now.

Follow us on socials:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@grandprickspodcast

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