Mercedes splits W17 specifications in Singapore as Wolff concedes upgraded car is 'a little more tricky to drive'

Upgrade gamble leaves Mercedes with questions

Mercedes arrived at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with its first major upgrade package in four months, having deliberately banked development work into one substantial step rather than bringing regular tweaks to its W17. The package did not deliver what the team expected. The Race reports that the anticipated 0.3-second improvement failed to materialise, and team principal Toto Wolff reckoned the car had instead dropped up to half a second, a shortfall that let Red Bull's Max Verstappen take his first pole position and victory of the season. ⁴

Crash.net, reporting from Singapore, noted that Wolff admitted it was "very difficult to understand" the team's underwhelming qualifying performance in Malaysia, given the size of the upgrade. Wolff said the team had identified several areas to investigate further, but added: "F1 doesn't offer simple answers and we need more evidence before drawing firm conclusions." He confirmed Mercedes would evaluate both the latest update package and its previous specification across the Singapore weekend, saying the circuit's very different characteristics would help build a clearer picture of where the team stands. ⁵⁴

Writing on Formula1.com, Wolff later explained the strategic context of the decision, saying Mercedes is one of the large organisations that must be careful how and when it spends its cost cap money, and that the team felt the right call was to work towards a bigger package before introducing it. He acknowledged the risk that if a big step does not work as anticipated, it is difficult to dial yourself out and understand why, and said the team might take smaller steps in future so that warning lights are easier to undo. ¹

There were mitigating factors in the Malaysian result. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord said in the team's post-race debrief that the drivers could feel improvements through medium- and high-speed corners, with slower sections remaining the problem, and raised a possible interaction between the updates, track temperature and Sepang's rough surface, according to Unchained Media. Wolff had conceded the Marina Bay Street Circuit is an outlier on the calendar, and Antonelli argued Sepang was "a bit of an outlier" because of its rough tarmac and 60-plus degree track temperatures. ³¹⁶

Split specifications: who runs what and why

To isolate the problem, Mercedes committed to an unusual strategy for Singapore, fielding its two W17s with different aero packages for the entire weekend. Formula1.com reports that Kimi Antonelli will stick with the updates seen in Sepang, now completed by a new front wing, while George Russell reverts to the specification he last ran in Azerbaijan, where he took pole by eight-tenths and won the Grand Prix. The team had split the packages across both cars for all three days, giving a direct back-to-back comparison on a Sprint weekend with only one practice session before Sprint Qualifying. ⁶¹⁴³

Russell said in Singapore that he had floated the idea even before the Malaysian race. "I instigated the conversation prior to the race on Sunday," he said. "So when the failure happened, it was kind of a no-brainer, because we were kind of 50-50 about it pre-race." His guaranteed power unit grid penalty, following the late engine failure while running third in Malaysia, removed a competitive argument against running the older specification, and he noted that Mercedes' pace relative to McLaren and Ferrari in Malaysia was not dramatically out of line, suggesting the issue may have been Malaysia-specific. ⁶⁵

Wolff backed the approach as a necessary compromise. "Running two different cars is not always ideal, but it's a compromise we just need to take," he said on Formula1.com. "We have two test pilots at the moment." He described the plan as dissecting what is working and what is not on the old and new specifications, picking the best bits and determining where the development direction needs to go, both for the remainder of 2026 and for 2027. ¹

Antonelli, who kept the upgrade, said the team made the decision to revert Russell to the old package and that he was comfortable keeping the new parts. "We do believe the new package can work well," he said on Formula1.com. "It's just a matter of trying to put the car in the right window, and understand it more." He added it would be "a shame to write it off so early" given the work invested. ⁶

Friday evidence: the old car leads the way

The first on-track data favoured the previous specification. Formula1.com reports that Russell set the fastest lap in Friday's sole practice hour and qualified second for the Sprint, behind Verstappen, while running the Azerbaijan-specification car. Antonelli, on the upgraded package, was seventh in both sessions. Wolff conceded the new car "seems to be a little more tricky to drive", but cautioned against conclusions, saying it is not necessarily slower and there will be goodness in it, with the older car simply a bit more stable and grippy on the strength of what he called only one data point. ¹²⁷

Antonelli was candid about his difficulties. "Already [in] FP1 I was struggling and, yeah, still a lot to understand about this package," he said on Formula1.com. "The car is very difficult, very unpredictable and very difficult to put a lap together." He ended Sprint Qualifying six-tenths behind his team mate and said he did not see where the roughly seven tenths to Verstappen could be found, while hoping he and his engineers, including race engineer Peter Bonnington, might find something overnight. ²¹

Russell was pleased with his own session. "I can definitely confirm the old one is not bad," he said on Formula1.com, while stressing that nothing told the team the upgrade was not working: "It's a sport driven by the stopwatch, and the stopwatch has not been great for the upgrade yet. Let's see, and maybe tomorrow's a different day." ⁷¹

Russell's penalty and the weekend stakes

Compounding Mercedes' weekend, Russell serves a back-of-the-grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix after a power unit change. Crash.net reports that the Briton retired with five laps to go at Sepang following a power unit failure while running third, and the new engine exceeds his permitted allocation of four for the season. Wolff called the penalty "particularly frustrating given the way he drove last weekend", while Crash.net noted the retirement left Russell 84 points behind team mate and championship leader Antonelli with seven races remaining. The Race adds that the penalty places Russell at the back of the grid at a venue that is notoriously difficult to overtake on, raising the stakes of his recovery drive. ⁵⁴

For the Sprint, Russell qualified on the front row but told Formula1.com the start would be very challenging, noting that grip across the grid differs significantly from left to right and that drivers on the pole side had enjoyed a big advantage the previous year, making maintaining second probably the realistic goal. He also noted that Verstappen was under investigation for the yellow-flag issue in Sprint Qualifying. Russell had promised an all-out attack in Singapore despite his Sunday penalty, according to Formula1.com. ⁷⁶

Mercedes' season context sharpens the scrutiny on the upgrade. Formula1.com notes the team dominated the early rounds of 2026 and holds a 151-point advantage over Ferrari in the Teams' Championship, but Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have all claimed race wins as the gap has closed. Wolff said the Singapore comparison would inform the approach for 2027, acknowledging that months of upgrades have been put into a direction the team believes is advantageous and that it may simply need calibrating. The weekend continues with the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday, giving Mercedes little running in which to reach firm conclusions. ¹⁵