Mercedes has confirmed that both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell are set to use the team’s latest W17 upgrade package at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. The team wants to gather more data on the specification introduced at Sepang and better understand how to unlock its potential, with the underlying philosophy potentially providing a foundation for the 2027 W18.
Toto Wolff and championship leader Kimi Antonelli had already indicated after the Singapore Grand Prix that both Mercedes cars would almost certainly run the new package at the next round. Bradley Lord has now confirmed the team’s intention to continue with the updated specification at the Circuit of The Americas.
Mercedes confirms W17 upgrade package for both cars in Austin
Mercedes first introduced the package at Sepang, which hosted the Bahrain Grand Prix in unusual circumstances. In Singapore, only Kimi Antonelli ran the updated specification, while George Russell remained with the previous configuration so the team could compare the two approaches.
Bradley Lord, Mercedes’ deputy team principal, confirmed the Austin plan during the team’s usual post-race weekend review.
“Singapore was an experimental weekend for us and we learned some very useful things. We decided to do the experiment as soon as possible after Sepang because we had the components available, although it involved a lot of hard work for the mechanics, effectively two days of work for them. We looked at the data and were able to understand where we had failed to put the car in the right balance window.”
Mercedes saw encouraging signs in qualifying and during Kimi Antonelli’s race pace, although the updated W17 remained difficult to keep consistently within its ideal operating range.
“In qualifying, we were able to extract more potential from the new package, although our performance wasn’t significantly better. We still qualified in a relatively strong position. Then, in the race, Kimi was able to maintain very good pace. Perhaps not Max Verstappen’s pace, but certainly competitive compared with the other cars on track.”
Mercedes says new upgrades still have a narrow operating window
One of the principal challenges remains the extremely narrow setup window in which the new package performs at its best. Mercedes believes it has begun moving in the correct direction, but the car can quickly lose performance when its balance moves outside that range.
“Red Bull has found great form, but we think we have started to find the right direction with the new upgrade package for the W17. The window in which the new parts work is still narrow, so for the drivers it is like running on a knife edge.”
“For the moment, if the balance is right, the car is fast. But the car can quickly move outside the optimum window and that is why we will have to continue working very hard on it over the next few race weekends.”
Lord then confirmed Mercedes’ intention to expand the programme to both cars in Texas.
“But we are confident that we will use two upgraded cars in Austin to continue the learning process and keep pushing.”
The next opportunity to evaluate the specification will therefore come at the 2026 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas.
Why Mercedes is persisting with the package ahead of the 2027 W18
Mercedes’ determination to continue developing this particular upgrade package is significant. An earlier specification used at Spa-Francorchamps was abandoned relatively quickly, whereas the team is prepared to invest considerably more track time in understanding the concept introduced at Sepang.
The reason became clearer in the post-race debriefs in Singapore, when both Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff indicated that the philosophy could have implications beyond the current W17.
“Yes [I will use this package again]. I think we’ll both return with the new package. It’s important to understand the correct window in which to place the car. The potential of this package is there, but it’s right to keep using it because we need to understand which direction to take for next year,” Kimi Antonelli said.
Toto Wolff added: “I also think that, from the perspective of development work for next year, it is the right direction to follow. But I’m saying that before our working groups meet tomorrow and the day after to analyse the situation and establish whether this really is the direction we want to take.”
Sepang concept could provide foundation for Mercedes W18
The philosophy introduced on the W17 at Sepang could therefore provide a starting point for Mercedes’ 2027 W18. Understanding the narrow operating window and learning how to extract the maximum possible performance from the package has consequently become a major priority.
Mercedes also has the freedom to conduct these experiments because of its substantial advantages in the championship standings, giving the team greater scope to evaluate ideas that could prove valuable for next season without immediately abandoning development of its current car.
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