Andrea Kimi Antonelli arrived in Singapore believing Mercedes’ latest aerodynamic package could finally reveal the potential that had remained hidden at Sepang. After Friday at Marina Bay, however, the picture looked almost entirely different: the updated W17 was difficult and unpredictable, George Russell was quicker with the older specification, and Mercedes had already begun partially reversing its latest changes.
The bigger problem is that Andrea Kimi Antonelli cannot simply copy George Russell’s configuration for the rest of the weekend. A complete conversion back to the previous specification would require around two days of work, making a full switch impossible within the available Singapore timetable.
Russell’s older Mercedes W17 immediately proves more competitive
The comparison organised by Mercedes produced a stark result. George Russell, who returned to the specification used before the Sepang upgrades, finished second in Sprint Qualifying. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was seventh, 0.573 seconds behind his team-mate.
The current championship leader made no attempt to hide how difficult his car was to drive, describing the W17 as “very difficult to drive” and “very unpredictable”. He also admitted that he could not immediately see where he might recover the roughly seven tenths he felt were missing.
The contrast was especially significant because Mercedes had deliberately split the two cars to understand whether the difficulties seen at Sepang were circuit-specific or related more directly to the latest package. For now, the older Mercedes W17 configuration has proved far easier to exploit.
Mercedes already removes new front wing from Antonelli’s car
Mercedes had already attempted to correct the direction between FP1 and Sprint Qualifying. The new front wing fitted to Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car in the morning was removed, with the team reverting to the previous dual-element specification.
That change, however, was not enough to return the whole car to the older concept.
The rest of the updated package also changes the aerodynamic philosophy around the sidepods. Those revisions required Mercedes to reposition components within the cooling architecture as well as other internal elements of the car.
As a result, this is not simply a matter of changing a floor, wing or isolated aerodynamic component. The new specification is integrated much more deeply into the overall layout of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s W17.
Mercedes identifies less stable balance on Antonelli’s W17
Mercedes vice-team principal Bradley Lord explained that Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car is displaying a less stable and less consistent balance than George Russell’s.
In slow-speed corners, the updated W17 produces more understeer. On entry to faster corners, however, the car becomes nervous. The combination has reduced the Italian driver’s confidence, something that is particularly costly around Marina Bay.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has highlighted the same weakness. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is struggling particularly under braking and on corner entry, precisely the phases where a driver needs confidence to attack on a qualifying lap.
Those issues help explain why the updated W17 has so far proved much harder to exploit despite the team continuing to believe that the newer package has greater aerodynamic potential.
Antonelli had agreed to keep the new Mercedes package
Before the weekend began, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had knowingly accepted the experiment. He explained that he planned to keep the new package throughout the weekend because Mercedes needed to understand it better.
“We know the old one works well,” he acknowledged, while adding that he still believed there was potential in the new specification.
After only one day of running, however, the situation looked considerably less encouraging. George Russell’s performance with the older car showed how quickly the previous specification could be brought into a competitive window, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli continued to struggle for consistency.
The comparison adds another layer to Mercedes’ wider questions over its W17 development programme, where the challenge is increasingly about converting theoretical aerodynamic gains into predictable performance on track.
Why Antonelli cannot fully switch back to Russell’s specification
The real complication is that Mercedes has now reached the point where a complete reversal is physically impossible during the race weekend.
Bradley Lord made clear that returning Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car to the previous configuration would involve much more than swapping the floor, front wing or a handful of aerodynamic parts. Mercedes cannot simply exchange the chassis either.
A complete conversion of the W17 back to the old specification would require roughly two days of work. Even the three-hour period in which parc fermé will be reopened between the Sprint and Saturday qualifying would not provide enough time.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli will therefore have to continue the Singapore weekend with a car that, for now, is giving him less confidence than the version being used by George Russell.
Mercedes must now improve the updated W17 through set-up
Mercedes will instead focus on finding a more stable set-up using the adjustments that remain available. The goal is to make the updated car more predictable without abandoning the complete package.
The first Singapore comparison has already produced an uncomfortable answer. The previous W17 specification is immediately usable and competitive, while the newer package continues to demand considerably more work before it can deliver the performance Mercedes believes it contains.
That makes the remainder of the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint weekend particularly important. Mercedes now has to determine whether set-up changes can unlock the updated W17 quickly enough, because a complete return to George Russell’s configuration is no longer a realistic option.
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