Motorsport.com: Mercedes upgrade may offer more pace, but is harder to unlock

Mercedes’ latest F1 upgrade may have more pace in reserve than the older specification, but is harder to exploit, Motorsport.com assesses after the team ran the two versions in Singapore.

Russell reverted to the older W17 specification, while Antonelli continued with the package Mercedes introduced in Malaysia the previous weekend. Between practice and Sprint Qualifying, however, Mercedes swapped Antonelli’s front wing to the older twin-plane specification. Mercedes had no like-for-like comparison in Malaysia, leaving it unclear whether the upgrade itself or circuit conditions had affected the results.

Russell was carrying a grid penalty for Sunday’s Grand Prix, which left him with little to lose from the older-specification test, Motorsport.com noted. In Friday’s Sprint Qualifying, Russell was second and Antonelli seventh, more than half a second behind his team-mate.

Antonelli said the upgraded car was difficult and unpredictable to drive and that he struggled to put a lap together. Bradley Lord, Mercedes’ deputy team principal, said the package had a less consistent balance, with understeer in slow corners and a nervous response on entry to high-speed turns.

After Friday practice, Toto Wolff said the new package was not necessarily slower and that the session was only a single data point. Russell later said the team had no indication that the upgrade was not working, although its times so far had not been good.

Wolff said the comparison was intended to show which parts of each specification worked and help Mercedes choose its development direction.