Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff will have one clear goal for the rest of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

McLaren have almost certainly already won the constructors’ championship, as they enter the summer break with a 299-point lead over their nearest rivals.

However, the battle for second place between Ferrari and Mercedes looks set to be one of many storylines for the final 10 race weeks of the 2025 F1 season.

The Scuderia have a 24-point advantage over the Silver Arrows, with Red Bull a further 42 points adrift.

It’s up to George Russell and rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to achieve that feat, but the run up to the summer break wasn’t easy for the Italian teenager.

Fans were amazed by Antonelli’s Canadian Grand Prix podium, but aside from his brilliant weekend in Montreal, he only scored one point in the seven other races leading up to the four-week pause in the campaign.

Antonelli was ‘extremely happy’ with changes made to his car at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he’ll hope that proves to be a turning point for the rest of the season.

Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

George Russell admires Kimi Antonelli for doing a ‘very good job’ dealing with the F1 media

Russell was asked on Mercedes’ official YouTube channel one thing he admires about his teammate and said: “I admire how you’re handling everything.

“It’s not easy, Formula 1, these days, with the pressure and Netflix.

“There’s obviously a lot going on. So, yeah, you’re doing a very good job at dealing with that. It’s not easy.

“He’s a young man, but he’s an old soul!”

Lewis Hamilton has offered Antonelli some advice in the paddock recently, as his performances haven’t matched his talent.

The speed Antonelli showed to claim pole position for the Sprint Race at the Miami Grand Prix hasn’t been shown frequently enough, although a change Mercedes made to both cars at Imola has hampered his progress.

Fans questioned whether Mercedes made the right decision promoting Antonelli at Spa, when the 18-year-old was seen looking very upset following back-to-back Q1 exits at one of the sport’s most iconic tracks.

The way he bounced back the following weekend highlights why Russell was so impressed.

Toto Wolff speaks about Lewis Hamilton’s defence of Kimi Antonelli

If there’s one driver on the grid who understands how much pressure can be put on a driver by the media, it’s Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton has been the poster boy of Formula 1 since his debut nearly 20 years ago, and is dealing with intense pressure in Italy right now after a tricky start to his first campaign with Ferrari.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has tried to defend his new driver, with Wolff removing pressure from Antonelli during his debut season by admitting that expectations were low.

However, any driver who reaches this level of the sport has no interest in slowly adapting to their new surroundings, and Antonelli would have wanted to impress from the start.

Wolff has explained why he thinks Hamilton is defending Antonelli in recent weeks, and while they’re rivals on track, the seven-time world champion still has a soft spot for his old team and the driver chosen to replace him.