Russell says tyre overheating is blunting Mercedes’ Sepang upgrade

George Russell says tyre overheating is blunting the benefit of Mercedes’ latest update after a difficult Friday practice at Sepang.

GPBeat · Newsroom02 Oct 2026, 15:39 · 1 min

Mercedes brought seven new components to Sepang, including changes to the floor, diffuser and sidepod profile, RacingNews365 reports. Both cars ran the update on Friday, but trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the team had been chasing a difficult balance and had not seen the lap-time gain it wanted.

Russell was second in the first practice session, almost four-tenths behind Max Verstappen, then seventh in the second, just ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Russell said the warm conditions and tyre overheating were partly cancelling out the benefit of the extra downforce. Shovlin said test items used in the first session might have complicated the assessment, but Mercedes still appeared to trail Red Bull when both cars ran a more representative configuration in the second.

Russell hopes Mercedes can get the car into a better operating window overnight and fight at the front. Shovlin expects some improvement in single-lap pace, but sees the team’s longer-run pace as the tougher problem.

Source context

Source scope: RacingNews365’s 2 October report on Friday practice at Sepang, quoting Russell and Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.

Claims and supporting evidence 5

RacingNews365 reports that Mercedes driver George Russell said high tyre degradation and overheating were slightly neutralising the extra downforce from the team's update. This is Russell's explanation of the car's behaviour, not a measured verdict on the upgrade's overall effectiveness.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. George Russell's assessment of Mercedes' upgrade during Friday practice at Sepang Friday practice, reported on 2026-10-02 Russell's statement is quoted by RacingNews365; no separate statement or telemetry was supplied.

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RacingNews365 reports Russell second in FP1, almost four-tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen's benchmark, and seventh in FP2, immediately ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli. These are reported session results, not proof of how much performance the update added.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. Russell's practice positions and the immediate performance context Friday FP1 and FP2, reported on 2026-10-02 The positions and gap are taken from this article; no separate full results page was supplied.

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RacingNews365 says Mercedes brought seven new components to Sepang, including changes to the floor, diffuser, sidepod profile, rear suspension fairings and brake-duct winglets. Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin, as quoted by the outlet, said both cars ran the latest package; FP1 also included test items, while FP2 used what he called a representative configuration.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. Mercedes' reported technical changes and Friday test configuration Friday practice, reported on 2026-10-02 The component count and description are the outlet's reporting. Shovlin's account comes through the same outlet, not an independently supplied team document.

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Shovlin identified longer-run pace as the more difficult concern. He also said headline lap times were not especially representative and expressed optimism about improving single-lap pace. Those are his assessments and expectations, not established outcomes.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. The team's assessment of qualifying pace and longer-run pace After Friday practice, reported on 2026-10-02 No race stint data or later session results were supplied to test these assessments.

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Russell said Mercedes had not put the car in the operating window it needed on Friday. He presented a return to the front as conditional on making progress overnight, rather than predicting that it would happen.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. Russell's outlook after the Friday sessions After Friday practice, reported on 2026-10-02 The supplied material does not establish whether the proposed changes worked.

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This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.