Wolff says Mercedes W17 upgrade still unproven after Singapore split-spec test

Singapore becomes a live back-to-back test

Mercedes arrived at the Singapore Grand Prix with two different specifications of its W17 in a deliberate bid to understand why a major upgrade, introduced at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, had failed to deliver the expected gain. As The Race reported, Mercedes planned to split its old and new aerodynamic packages across its two cars for the entire weekend, bringing older specification parts to Marina Bay after the hoped-for 0.3-second improvement did not materialise in Malaysia. Wolff reckoned the upgrade had instead dropped performance by up to half a second, leaving the door open for Max Verstappen to take his first pole and victory of the season. ⁷

Crash.net reported that Wolff had admitted it was very difficult to understand the team's underwhelming qualifying performance in Malaysia, and that he confirmed the back-to-back comparison would run across the Singapore weekend. Asked about the decision, Wolff told media that the unusual move of running two different cars was taken to accelerate the team's learning curve, with Antonelli retaining the upgraded specification and Russell reverting to the previous version with which he won in Baku. The comparison proved inconclusive as to which package was faster. ⁹¹

The logistical challenge was significant. Grand Prix 247 noted that Singapore hosted its first Formula 1 Sprint weekend, leaving Mercedes a single practice session before competitive running began, and Wolff said the circuit's very different characteristics would help build a clearer picture of whether the Sepang problems were circuit-specific or linked to the W17's development direction. ⁸

A difficult Malaysia weekend shaped the plan

The Malaysia round exposed fresh questions about the upgrade. According to Grand Prix 247, Mercedes struggled for pace throughout the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang before Antonelli salvaged second place, while Russell was heading for a strong finish before a late power-unit failure ended his race and triggered a grid penalty for Singapore. Wolff said Malaysia was a very difficult weekend and that the team had spent the days since working hard to understand why its performance was not where it should have been. ⁸

The Race reported that the track surface was one possible confounding factor: Mercedes' post-race analysis sought to establish whether what played out was entirely down to the aero package or linked to the rough track surface. Wolff told media, according to Grande Premio, that because Sepang's asphalt is porous and the temperatures were unusual, the team did not know whether the upgrade was not working as expected or whether that was a consequence of track conditions, and that F1 does not offer simple answers, requiring more evidence before firm conclusions. ⁷⁶

Formula1.com reported that Mercedes' first major update in four months had been introduced specifically to regain lost performance after early-season dominance, with Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull having all claimed race wins as the year progressed. Wolff conceded that concentrating resources into one big package was risky, telling Formula1.com that maybe the team would do smaller steps in future so that, if there was a warning light, it is easier to undo. ²

Early evidence: the old car feels more stable

The first comparison came in Friday's only practice session. Grande Premio reported that Russell topped Singapore FP1 with the older aerodynamic package, setting a 1:32.274 that was 0.198s ahead of Charles Leclerc, while championship leader Antonelli placed seventh with the upgrade. However, the outlet noted important context: Russell ran soft tyres on his fastest lap while Antonelli used mediums, making the gap an unreliable measure of the packages alone, and Wolff warned the lap times did not establish which specification was faster. ⁶

Speaking to media including PlanetF1, Wolff described an emerging pattern: the new car seems to be a little more tricky to drive, though not necessarily slower because there will be goodness in it, while the older car is a bit more stable and grippy. He stressed this was really just one data point from one free-practice session, needing more time to reach conclusive information. ³

Formula1.com reported Russell qualified second for the Sprint while Antonelli finished 0.6s behind in P7 on sprint qualifying, ending up behind his team-mate. Russell said he could definitely confirm the old one is not bad, but that nothing was telling the team the upgrade is not working; the stopwatch has just not been great for it yet. ²

Sprint crash and a rushed rebuild

Russell's weekend took a turn in Saturday's Sprint. GPblog reported that after launching from second on the grid to overtake Verstappen into the lead, Russell applied the throttle too early at the final corner of the opening lap, caught the white line and spun into the pit wall. Wolff told Sky Sports F1 he did not initially believe the yellow flag was for Russell, given the Briton's long record of avoiding such mistakes. ⁵⁴

The repair had consequences. Wolff told Sky Sports F1, as reported by GPblog, that the mechanics did an unbelievable job putting the car together, but that the rebuilt W17 may have been missing sensors and felt not as good as before; speaking to Sky Germany, he said the floor is probably not quite as it should be. Russell nonetheless managed the sixth-fastest qualifying time before starting Sunday's race from the back of the grid on a new power unit, which exceeded his permitted allocation of four engines for the season, as Crash.net explained. Grande Premio reported the penalty as 40 places. ⁵⁹⁴

Race day: cautious conclusions and a Red Bull warning

Improvement came on Saturday for the upgraded car. Grande Premio reported Wolff saying that on Kimi's side the updates seem to have worked now, with Antonelli and his engineers dialling out problems to qualify fourth, 0.189s behind pole-sitter Verstappen, roughly a tenth and a half or two tenths adrift. But Wolff cautioned it would take more proof of concept until he felt warm and fuzzy, with race data on tyre degradation still to come. ⁴

Grande Premio reported that Russell entered Sunday's Grand Prix 89 points behind Antonelli in the Drivers' Championship following his Sprint retirement, underlining the championship stakes of his recovery drive from the back of the grid. ⁴

In Sunday's Grand Prix, Antonelli finished third at Marina Bay while Russell salvaged ninth after starting from the back, as Formula1.com reported. Wolff's post-race assessment remained measured: he said the new car needs a very different set-up philosophy than the previous one, was not as easy to drive, and did not yet have the performance the team hoped the upgrade would bring, but described it as a step in the right direction, with Austin to show whether more performance can be consolidated. ¹

The comparison unfolded against a resurgent Red Bull. Formula1.com reported that Verstappen claimed a dominant Singapore weekend, taking double pole plus victories in the Sprint and the Grand Prix, a week after his first win of the season in Malaysia. Wolff said you need to take your hat off for what Red Bull has done in developing the car, and that while Mercedes was on the cusp of the drivers' and teams' titles, next year it is full on the fight between the teams and Red Bull is part of that. ¹

Why it matters for 2027

The findings carry weight beyond this season. Wolff told PlanetF1 that the exercise is very crucial, because Mercedes had put a few months of upgrades into the car in a direction believed advantageous, and maybe it just needs calibrating to find the right way forward for 2027. He added that running two different cars was not always ideal but a necessary compromise, saying the team effectively had two test pilots to ensure it is doing the right thing for next year as well. ³

Formula1.com likewise reported Wolff framing the Austin round as crucial for the development direction for next year, underlining that the Singapore experiment was as much about the future chassis as the current championship battle. The team had not yet concluded whether the upgraded specification delivers more performance, with Wolff explicitly declining to declare it either a success or a failure. ¹