Antonelli hails Mercedes progress after Singapore podium with upgraded W17 package

From frustration to a podium result

Kimi Antonelli finished third in the Singapore Grand Prix and said the result was helped by Mercedes finally starting to understand its upgraded car after a difficult run of races. Formula1.com reported the Mercedes driver's view that the team was 'seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this [upgrade] package'. The comments describe Antonelli's own assessment of the weekend; they do not establish a specific measured performance gain or detail the upgrade's components. ¹

That outcome followed a strikingly different mood on Friday. Motorsport Week reported that, after sprint qualifying, Antonelli told F1TV the upgraded car was 'very unpredictable' and very difficult to put a lap together, having qualified seventh for the sprint and finished seventh in that session. Formula1.com's own race-day coverage charted the turnaround: after set-up changes to his car for main qualifying, Antonelli qualified fourth, then converted that into a podium on Sunday, behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. ⁴²¹

Why Mercedes split its specifications

Mercedes brought a significant update package to the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, including altered bodywork and adjustments to the floor, having waited until that round to make major changes while rivals such as Ferrari and Red Bull had updated more regularly. The parts were intended to reinstate the performance advantage Mercedes had enjoyed earlier in the season, but at Sepang Verstappen converted pole into his first win of 2026 while George Russell retired with a mechanical failure, and Antonelli finished on the podium behind Verstappen. ⁵⁶

Assessing the package at Sepang proved difficult. PlanetF1 reported Antonelli's explanation that Sepang's rough tarmac and high temperatures made the team's life harder, leaving the effectiveness of the upgrade as 'the question we need to answer'. GPblog likewise quoted him saying the car's operating window had changed with the new package, with strong high-speed performance but a lack of pace in slower corners, and that the rough surface and heat pushed the tyres out of their window after two corners. ⁶⁸

A tale of two cars at Marina Bay

For Singapore, Mercedes chose to compare two aerodynamic specifications. Antonelli committed to the new package for the whole weekend, telling Formula1.com 'there's no way to go back to it because it's a big job for the team', and running a new front wing designed to complement the upgrades. Russell reverted to the older specification, which Antonelli said 'works really well, especially on these kinds of tracks'. ⁵²

The early comparison favoured the old car. GRANDE PRÊMIO reported Russell topped FP1 with a 1:32.274 and qualified second for the sprint with a 1:31.276, just 0.120s behind Verstappen's pole, while Antonelli was seventh in sprint qualifying with a 1:31.849, 0.573s adrift of his teammate. The outlet noted that different tyre compounds and run programmes meant the FP1 result alone did not establish which specification was faster, and that the team had not concluded the older specification was inherently quicker. ⁷

After FP1, team principal Toto Wolff acknowledged, according to GRANDE PRÊMIO, that 'the new car seems a little more complicated to drive. That doesn't necessarily mean it's slower, because there are positive aspects to it, but perhaps we still haven't found a way to combine everything and get the package right.' Wolff added that the old car was a little more stable and had more grip, but stressed one free-practice session was not enough for definitive conclusions. ⁷

Set-up work turns the weekend around

Saturday changed the picture. Russell crashed out of the sprint after taking the lead from Verstappen, while Antonelli finished fourth in the rain-affected sprint. Formula1.com reported that various set-up changes were then made to Antonelli's car for main qualifying, where the intra-team tables turned: Antonelli led the Mercedes pair in fourth, with Russell just under two tenths slower in sixth before dropping to the back of the grid under a power-unit penalty for exceeding his allocation. ²³

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying, Antonelli explained, as reported by GRANDE PRÊMIO: 'we found the issues, and now we're able to understand more the package, and now it's more about trying to find the right window with the setup to make sure that the package works at its best.' He also cautioned that the window in which the car operates remained very small and the car reacted differently from corner to corner. Formula1.com quoted him as saying the team had done 'a tremendous job' with the changes and that he was now 'starting to see the potential of the package'. ³²

Russell's own weekend took a different turn after his crash. GRANDE PRÊMIO reported his concern that the rebuilt W17 no longer felt the same: 'I've taken a step backwards and the car didn't feel quite the same,' he said after qualifying with a 1:31.747, 0.185s slower than Antonelli. ³

Championship context and what remains unresolved

Antonelli entered the Singapore weekend with an 84-point lead over Russell in the Drivers' Championship, which grew to 89 points after the sprint and Russell's retirement. PlanetF1 reported ahead of the weekend that, if results fell his way, he could be crowned champion at the earliest in Austin. Antonelli told Formula1.com his focus was on extracting the package's potential rather than the title battle, saying: 'We're going to try and win. That's the mindset.' ⁷⁶⁵

What remains unverified is the package's underlying performance. Neither the team nor Antonelli has stated a quantified gain from the Malaysia upgrade, and GRANDE PRÊMIO reported the team was still analysing whether Friday's difference came from the aero package, set-up or driving characteristics. Antonelli's view, as reported across the weekend by GPblog and Formula1.com, is that the priority is identifying the operating window in which the package performs at its best across high-speed and low-speed corners. ⁷⁸²