Uneven downforce gains made Mercedes’ W17 harder to drive

Mercedes got the extra downforce it wanted from its Sepang upgrade, but the gain varied across operating conditions. That pushed the W17’s aerodynamic balance too far forward and narrowed the car’s useful working window.

Deputy technical director Simone Resta said on the team’s Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show podcast that Mercedes measured more downforce, but not the same gain at every point on track. The changing response altered the car’s balance and forced the drivers to adapt. Its front end was stronger than expected, Resta said, and re-centering the operating window was taking time.

The shift ate into a previous strength of the W17: a stable rear, especially under braking and in traction-limited corners. That stability suited Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s aggressive corner-entry style. He reported persistent mid-corner understeer during both the Malaysia and Singapore weekends; the car did not rotate as cleanly as he wanted on entry, compromising his line through the apex and delaying his return to the throttle.

Singapore gave Mercedes an opportunity to respond. After the sprint, when parc fermé restrictions were lifted, the team changed the set-up substantially for qualifying and the race, looking for a more stable rear. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord said that in the wet sprint the car was initially oversteery and difficult to drive, but its balance improved as the front tyres wore.

On Saturday, Antonelli bettered his Friday qualifying time despite slower track conditions, one of only two drivers in the top 10 to do so, alongside Hamilton. Most of his gain came in the technical second sector, where the set-up changes gave him confidence to push harder.

For Austin, Mercedes plans to bring back a front wing tested in Singapore practice and to work mechanically on the car to widen its operating window and unlock more of the package’s potential, Resta said.