How Mercedes achieved the Singapore surprise
George Russell’s victory for Mercedes in the night race at Marina Bay was one of the season’s biggest surprises. Singapore had long been considered a hostile track for the Silver Arrows, with its combination of environmental conditions and circuit characteristics threatening to exacerbate rear tire overheating issues on the W16. Mercedes focused heavily on addressing this problem, making adjustments to setup and brake cooling among other areas.
Less throttle to go faster
“We’ve done a lot of work to preserve the rear tires, especially on circuits where they are particularly stressed,” explained Andrew Shovlin, head of track engineering, emphasizing Mercedes’ main priority in recent months. The W16’s tendency to overheat the rear tires stems from a certain reluctance to rotate and realign on corner exit, forcing drivers to use the throttle to induce controlled sliding, which drives tire temperatures sky-high.
Antonelli had explained before the Imola round in May: “The car this year is very stable. This means in some situations there is a lot of understeer, which becomes tricky over long stints because once you start understeering, it becomes harder to rotate the car. The issue is that to rotate it, you have to put the rear tires under traction, creating a domino effect.”
The in-season updates, including the new rear suspension, initially aimed to correct this, but pushed the W16 to the opposite extreme, making it unstable and hard to drive. Once the team reverted to the old rear setup from Budapest onward, focus returned to solving the original issue via balance and setup adjustments. “We worked on how the car behaves so the drivers don’t have to rely on throttle to rotate it on corner exit,” Shovlin explained. Singapore’s performance shows the effort paid off: “Now [the car] rotates more naturally, which certainly helps.”
The updates
Targeted updates were also applied to the W16. In Singapore, the only declared change was a small flap on the existing front wing, originally introduced at Spa. Onboard footage showed wing flex, but all teams retained some wing deformability even after the Barcelona technical directive. The Marina Bay flap improved balance, aiding rotation and traction on corner exit. “The front wing was a small tweak to help move balance into the correct window,” Shovlin said.
Mercedes also made internal changes to the wheel assemblies, invisible to the public and not required to be declared to the FIA. Shovlin described work on internal ducts to limit heat transfer between brake discs, rims, and tires: “We tried to isolate the tires from brake hub heat, adding cooling elements around them. It’s a gradual process, like all teams do. Hopefully, we’ve made progress in this area.”
Weekend execution
The team’s Friday evening practice program, which closely mirrored qualifying and race conditions, also contributed to success. Despite Russell’s early FP2 exit, Mercedes was the only top team to run a race simulation with Antonelli before Saturday, gathering crucial data. “It allowed us to set a more aggressive cooling level because we were evaluating two configurations. We were happy with the more aggressive one, which gave better aerodynamic performance,” Andrew Shovlin said.
They also assessed floor wear with full fuel loads and sustainable race speeds. Using the simulator overnight, Mercedes determined the lowest ride height possible without risking disqualification, balancing aerodynamic load, mechanical grip, and car balance: “It let us refine ride heights so we were confident of passing FIA checks, without unnecessarily losing downforce or running the car too high.”
Remaining weaknesses
Andrew Shovlin tempered expectations, aware of the W16’s limits: “The circuits where we’ve performed well, like Montreal and Singapore, are relatively low-speed. The car works well in that range, giving good grip and confidence under heavy braking. We haven’t seen the same at high-speed tracks, which is likely an area of weakness.”
Mercedes in 2025 has been most competitive in Bahrain, Canada, Azerbaijan, and Singapore—tracks dominated by medium to low-speed corners. Austin’s fast initial sequence will test the W16 in high-speed bends. Nonetheless, opportunities remain to secure at least one more win before season’s end, particularly in Las Vegas, boosting the chance to defend second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
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