Mercedes has confirmed its next major upgrade package for the W17 will come at the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, as it seeks to regain its dominance over rivals in 2026.
Although winning the last two races, Mercedes has arguably lost its dramatic pace advantage that saw the Silver Arrows cut rivals adrift in the early part of the season.
This is in part due to F1’s raging development war in 2026, as teams push both power units and car upgrades to find all important lap time, with upgrades changing the competitive order race by race.
Mercedes has fallen victim to this in the second half of the season, as McLaren’s upgrades resulted in two consecutive wins in Hungary and Zandvoort for Norris, and in contention to win in Spain.
The Silver Arrows have not introduced an substantial upgrade to the W17 since May at the Canadian GP, but this is set to change in Malaysia, according to its Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin,
“The updates [are] going to come from Malaysia onwards,” Shovlin confirmed on Nu Silver Arrows radio show.
“And hopefully we’ll make a decent step. I don’t think we’re going to be out front by miles, but hopefully we’ll be back into a position where we can really go into qualifying knowing that we’re fighting for pole.
“We haven’t got much new coming to Baku, but actually that’s a circuit that’s more about drag than downforce. So the car was good in Monza. Hopefully it will work well in Baku, but you need a car that can have a good straight-line speed.
“There are other things, though, you need in Baku, like the street circuit nature, almost that Monaco-esque, being able to deal with the low speed, keeping all the wheels on the ground.”
Mercedes expects strong Baku performance
Given McLaren’s incursion on its pace in recent races, Mercedes may have a case for being concerned in Baku, but Shovlin indicated the team is using Monza as its baseline for performance.
“I think if we hadn’t had Monza, we would again be saying, ‘Baku, we haven’t updated for a while, that’s going to be a tough circuit for us’.
“I think the fact that we showed that our car works well at these tracks that need low drag, we have an efficient car, we look good in a straight line, Red Bull are quite similar, and while that’s not the only thing you need at Baku, I think, if you’ve got that, you’re in with a decent shout, and then we’ve got to sort it out for the rather twisty, wiggly bit through the castle and those corners.
“But we’re looking forward to it, and it is a track that George has been good at before. Kimi knows it now; it’s not his first year, and hopefully we’ll be in a position to fight for a win.”
Mercedes is still comfortably the team to beat in 2026, but this upgrade could see a return to the early season pace that utilised to perfection.
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