After introducing a new major upgrade package at the 2026 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Mercedes has slowly been undoing much of its work because that package has not been as strong as hoped, according to team principal Toto Wolff.
While Wolff still believes the package represents a “step in the right direction,” he maintains that there is still significant work to be done before that upgrade can be considered successful.
Toto Wolff critical of Mercedes W17 upgrade package
Heading into the Malaysian Grand Prix, Mercedes introduced the W17’s second major upgrade of the F1 2026 season. Hopes were high for its success, as the team’s previous upgrade in Canada only cemented its place as a front-running outfit.
Instead, the Sepang update left a lot to be desired. The team’s performance at the Circuit of The Americas only served to reinforce that sentiment.
At Sepang, Mercedes split strategies: Antonelli ran the upgrade package on his W17 while Russell retained the previous specification. During the race, Antonelli finished second to Max Verstappen while Russell retired. B
etween the result and the unique characteristics of Sepang compared to the remaining events on the calendar, Mercedes could not make any sweeping assumptions about the upgrade’s performance. Both drivers therefore ran the updated W17 at the United States Grand Prix.
Speaking to media before the Grand Prix in Austin, Wolff admitted, “I think that this new car needs a very different setup philosophy than the previous car, and this is what we’re learning at the moment.
“Does it have the performance that we were hoping the upgrade would bring? I don’t think so yet, but it was a step in the right direction, and in Austin, we shall see whether we can continue to consolidate that, and whether, in effect, it has more performance because it’s crucial for the development direction for next year.”
Antonelli, of course, won the race, but Russell was mired down at the lower end of the top 10, finishing eighth.
George Russell points to W17 upgrade for ‘lack of pace’
If Toto Wolff was waiting to issue an opinion about the W17’s upgrades until after the USGP, George Russell believes it’d be safe to call this one a mixed bag.
Asked about the reasons behind his struggles, Russell admitted after the race, “I don’t have the answers right now.
“There are signs that the window is very small. I hope that’s an explanation for my lack of pace today. But yeah, I need to keep with my team because it’s yeah, difficult to understand when you’re so far off.”
Russell was also asked to define what would constitute a ‘successful’ update. He pointed to the W17 upgrade in Canada.
“I think a successful update is something that we had in Montreal: you put it on a car, the driver says it works, and you can feel it immediately,” he said.
“It delivers where your focus of development was, whether it’s in the high speed, whether it’s in the low speed.
“This update didn’t work at the beginning, and like today, we stuck to our strategy and to our data, and that meant the one-stop is the race-winning strategy.
“I think what we’re doing at the moment with the update is the same. Our data shows us the car has the downforce. Our data shows where the weaknesses are, but that has also been the development direction over the last three and a half months.
“So we are continuing on that route and trying to undo the things that don’t work as they should.”
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