Mercedes, together with Toto Wolff, has decided that the 2025 Formula 1 season will be archived as a test bench. From now on, work will focus exclusively on the 2026 car. Toto Wolff himself stated that no further updates are planned for the current W16 car. The goal now is to optimize what is available while simultaneously avoiding the same mistakes in designing the future vehicle.
The dangers of emotional involvement in technical decisions
This is not a simple task, considering the huge amount of energy—both financial and technical—spent in recent months trying to understand and resolve a technical regression that has left a mark. Various theories from Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ track engineering director, offer a clear insight: the necessity to turn every mistake into useful know-how for the car of the next regulatory cycle is paramount.
Looking at the recent past, it is natural to think about the conceptual failure of the Brackley team’s zero pod project. On paper, it promised miracles. Despite the German team trying in every way possible, it was a completely wrong approach where very little, if anything, worked. There was a sort of emotional attachment that prolonged the team’s struggles.
Continuing down a path that is not working is never a good idea in Formula 1. On the other hand, optimizing performance is a multidimensional problem, difficult to interpret when data collection is limited or incorrect. The risk of persisting in the wrong direction increases exponentially when the team feels almost morally obligated to make it work at all costs.
This psychological mechanism seems to have affected Mercedes once again in 2025. Specifically, the issue concerns the rear suspension. This mechanical component was introduced at Imola for initial testing, then reappeared in Canada where George Russell won. It seemed like a correct solution. Then, an unexpected regression threw everything into doubt.
The rear suspension case: when instability comes from an upgrade
The new suspension configuration had a precise purpose: to increase the anti-lift effect at the rear during deceleration. Theoretically, this update was supposed to make the aerodynamic platform more stable and reduce the tendency of rear wheel lock-up. However, the compromise also involved reduced feedback transmitted to the driver, something known during the design phase.
What was not expected was the opposite effect: the W16 became less stable, generating mistrust among the drivers, especially in variable conditions or on technical circuits like Silverstone, Spielberg, or Spa-Francorchamps. The success in Montreal, an atypical track where braking zones are mostly on straights and high-speed corners are almost absent, created an illusion that the new rear end worked. It was only a mirage.
Mercedes continued experimenting with different setups in subsequent races, searching for a balance point. But the delay in reverting the technical direction penalized performance and highlighted a deeper problem: the poor correlation between simulations and reality. One of the central themes of Mercedes’ 2025 failure is precisely this excessive reliance on the digital model at the expense of empirical validation.
Wolff is clear about the future
Updates are designed to improve performance, and behind every single update is an enormous amount of simulation work. However, in several cases, these have proven to be completely wrong. Toto Wolff himself acknowledged this. The Vienna-based manager pointed out that in some contexts the team has taken steps backward, returning to more analog methods before seeing what happens on track.
This is exactly the perfect example when talking about the rear suspension, which was removed from the car and set aside for the Hungarian Grand Prix. This is a heavy rejection, though it is not necessarily a definitive decision. The fact remains that Mercedes has decided to abandon further development of the W16 and fully focus on the 2026 project, where the technical regulations are still evolving.
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