Mercedes will split its W17 car specifications for the Singapore GP, with George Russell reverting to the pre-Sepang package while Kimi Antonelli retains the team’s latest updates.
The Brackley-based squad introduced a revised floor and bodywork package at Sepang, featuring modified floorboards and a ramped upper sidepod surface.
Although data indicated increased high-speed downforce, extreme track temperatures and rough tarmac left Mercedes struggling to understand the car’s balance.
With a power unit penalty sending him to the back of the grid in Singapore, Russell sees the split configuration as an obvious move.
“Actually I instigated the conversation prior to the race on Sunday,” Russell revealed in Singapore.
“When the failure happened it was kind of a no-brainer, because we were kind of 50-50 about it pre-race, and I was more in favour to do it, and that was even pre-race, whereas now it is a total no-brainer.
“There’s no signs telling us the upgrade was not working, and we know the car we had in Baku was the same car as we had in Budapest and Zandvoort, and in Baku we were on pole by eight tenths, and in Budapest we were four tenths off the pace.
“Those fluctuations, even with a consistent car and your rivals with the same car, are drastic, you have a fluctuation of plus or minus one second, it can be that delta, so we’re pretty confident it’s a Malaysia specific.
“When you look at the pace of Red Bull as well, they clearly overperformed compared to where they’ve been this season, compared to all of the other teams.
“When you look at our pace compared to McLaren and Ferrari, it wasn’t too dissimilar, it wasn’t massively out of step.
“This engine penalty this weekend has given us a good opportunity to roll back, it’s the car that I won in Baku with.”
Upgrades for Antonelli at the Singapore GP
Championship leader Antonelli will commit to the upgraded package throughout the weekend, confident Sepang was simply an outlier.
“The numbers told us a different story in Sepang, but I think in Sepang, it was a bit of an outlier because the tarmac was just so rough.
“Actually, in some corners, we were missing tarmac,” Antonelli explained.
“Also, it was so hot; at times we had 60-plus degrees track temperature. So I think it was a bit of an outlier and definitely I feel like this weekend is going to be a bit more representative.
“You know, cooler temperatures, the tarmac is in a much better state. And I think it’s going to be a very good test because in Sepang, we struggled a lot in low speed and here we have a lot of low speed. So let’s see how it’s going to be.
“We’ll have two different cars on two different packages. So that is going to be interesting to see how we’re going to have a straight comparison on that side.
“I think there’s an actual improvement [with the new package], it’s just we didn’t quite see it in Sepang. That’s why it was such an outlier.
“Hopefully this weekend, we’ll be able to understand it more and to put the car in a better place and be able to use its full potential.”
While Mercedes frames this split strategy as a calculated data-gathering exercise, forcing their senior driver into a glorified test session at a tight street circuit feels like a subtle admission that they still don’t fully understand their own aero development.
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