Upon arriving at the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, the Mercedes team had high expectations with its new upgrade package, designed to consolidate its lead in the championship. However, the results were not as expected, and the team’s performance left director Toto Wolff trying to decipher why the track speed was so different from the wind tunnel data.
To solve this enigma, Mercedes decided to split its strategies during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. While George Russell has reverted to an earlier specification of the car, his teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, will continue with the controversial updates from Malaysia.
In a press conference held on Thursday, Russell revealed that a crucial piece of the upgrade package was absent during the last race.
The absence of the front wing
The truth is that the aerodynamic package tested in Sepang was incomplete. “We have a front wing this weekend that Kimi is using and that we didn’t have in Malaysia,” Russell explained to the media. “The package was supposed to come with the front wing as a key component.”
The importance of the front wing in modern Formula 1 is fundamental, as it affects the airflow over the rest of the chassis. Racing with the new floor and the side elements without this properly adapted component may have drastically affected the car’s balance, a drawback that, according to official documents from the FIA, even impacts its performance in the Singapore Grand Prix, as it is one of three teams that have introduced new front wing elements.
Russell suspects that this one delayed piece is responsible for the significant loss of speed that the team experienced in the previous race. “Perhaps this was the reason it didn’t perform so well in Malaysia,” he noted.
Return to a proven winner
Although Antonelli is experimenting with the complete upgrade package, Russell will race with the old aerodynamic design. The Englishman is forced to face a significant grid penalty due to an engine failure in Malaysia, so using a more familiar car as a reference base seems to be a sound strategy for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.
Despite coinciding with an older-spec vehicle, Russell remains optimistic about his chances of gaining positions during the race. He recalls that the car he drove in Baku, which led him to victory, is still a fast machine. “It’s still a fast car, so I hope we can enjoy the weekend,” he concluded.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_65176b0f037c0f3aecbef51abee57b34c6a81bb9