Russell unsure of Mercedes upgrade after qualifying eighth

Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth and George Russell eighth in Malaysia, leaving Mercedes without a car in the top three for only the second time this season, RacingNews365 reports. Antonelli had led final practice, and the team had brought an upgrade package to the event.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky F1, in comments quoted by RacingNews365, that the car had behaved in an unfamiliar way on Friday. He thought the team had made progress with Antonelli before qualifying, only for its pace to fade again. Wolff suggested the heat and different track surface might be factors, but had not identified the cause.

Wolff said Mercedes appeared to be losing time on the straights, particularly to Max Verstappen, and struggling with understeer at Turn 2. The team is examining its data. Wolff said he still believed its upgrade worked, but needed to understand why the car lacked pace in Malaysia.

Update

George Russell says Mercedes cannot yet judge whether its updated W17 helped or hindered its qualifying performance. After qualifying eighth, behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli in fourth, he told RacingNews365 that a direct comparison with the previous car would have helped. The older version, he said, might have performed even worse.

Russell said Mercedes’ wind-tunnel figures indicated an improvement and met expectations, but the qualifying result did not. He also suggested the circuit’s abrasive surface was affecting Mercedes more than its rivals, while saying he did not know why the weekend had proved harder than expected.

Russell is set to start seventh because Isack Hadjar, who qualified third, has a five-place grid penalty. He expects heavy tyre degradation and says race pace will matter more than Mercedes’ disappointing qualifying result.