The Singapore Grand Prix has left Mercedes with more questions than answers after testing their latest aerodynamic updates, which surprisingly haven’t delivered the expected results. The team’s engineers have been baffled by the superiority of the previous model, which finished in a better position than the new upgrades.
In Friday’s qualifying, George Russell achieved an impressive starting position on the front row, using the previous version of his car. In contrast, his teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, struggled to adapt to the new specifications, finishing seventh after showing balance issues.
Andrew Shovlin, engineering director at the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, confessed his concern over the poor performance of the new updates. “Implementing the improvements hasn’t been easy and the Singapore track doesn’t facilitate this type of testing,” Shovlin stated. The concern grows with the realization that the updates haven’t provided the necessary boost to compete for victory in the 2026 championship.
Despite Russell’s excellent performance, the team has not been able to celebrate it. The effectiveness of the old model indicates that the correlation with the wind tunnel might be flawed, a fact that seriously impacts the team’s hopes in the competition. “This has left us pondering the causes preventing the updates from delivering the necessary performance,” Shovlin added.
The challenge is even greater as strict closed park regulations prohibit making significant mechanical changes before the race. Thus, Mercedes engineers will have to rely on minor adjustments to improve the situation and hope things improve for the main qualifying.
Shovlin concluded by stating that they will continue working to identify the problems and improve Antonelli’s car setup. “We have plenty of information in hand, and we hope to make progress for the next qualifying round,” he said.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
