Russell: Optimistic W16 will be good step in right direction

Mercedes have never recovered from their disastrous start of the current regulations era back in 2022, and despite managing to improve since then, the eight-time F1 champions have never appeared to be on top of the current regulations.

But it seems Mercedes will have a final crack at a decent ground effect F1 car in 2025 before the focus shifts to the fully new cars of 2026, which will have totally new chassis and power units.

Speaking at Mercedes' launch event of their new Adidas partnership, Russell said of his upcoming car: "There have been a lot of… I wouldn't say changes directly from last year to this year.

"These are things that have been in the pipeline for a long time, items that we couldn't quite put on the car in 2024, but we've been working on them for a long time.

"We're optimistic it will be a good step in the right direction. You obviously never know what your rivals are going to have done.

"Throughout this year, with the thought of 2026, whether people keep developing or not is going to be quite intriguing," he maintained.

However, with Lewis Hamilton now at Ferrari and with a rookie teammate in the form of Kimi Antonelli, Russell is pumped up and ready to lead his team, even targeting a championship fight of the W16 has the potential.

"Absolutely. I feel ready; everybody in the team is so motivated," he responded when asked if he feels ready to fight for his maiden F1 title.

"I feel that these years have sort of been trial and error, but every time we've had a chance to win, we've won. And that's what gives me the optimism that if we do have the car, we can achieve it.

"We're working as hard as we can for it to be this year, but everybody is fully on board, and it's going to be an exciting season," Russell concluded.

Russell won two races in 2024, the Las Vegas and Austrian Grands Prix. He also finished first in the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix but was disqualified after a weight discrepancy with his car. Hamilton inherited the win.