Mercedes leaves Sepang with a weekend of contrasting fortunes. Kimi Antonelli secured a hugely valuable second place in the Formula 1 title fight, extending his advantage over George Russell to 84 points, but the team must now address two significant concerns: the power-unit failure on the British driver’s car and uncertainty over the performance of the new W17 upgrade package.
For Kimi Antonelli, the result became even more valuable following his team-mate’s retirement. With seven races remaining in the season, the Italian has established his biggest advantage over George Russell so far and can look towards the championship battle with growing confidence. However, Sepang also demonstrated that Mercedes was not the technical benchmark of the weekend.
“Max was very, very fast throughout the weekend. Red Bull did a great job and we struggled more than in previous races. With the pace we had today, second place was the best result possible,” Kimi Antonelli admitted.
Mercedes faces questions over new W17 upgrade package
The main technical uncertainty concerns the upgrade package introduced at Sepang. Mercedes’ simulations suggested the new components should deliver a gain of around three tenths of a second, but the evidence from the circuit was considerably less convincing.
The W17 showed progress through medium- and high-speed corners but paid a price in aerodynamic drag and, more importantly, encountered difficulties through the slower sections. Mercedes must therefore determine how much of the behaviour seen in Malaysia was genuinely caused by the upgrades and how much was instead linked to Sepang’s particularly demanding characteristics.
The highly abrasive asphalt, elevated temperatures and particularly old track surface created conditions in which Mercedes had already experienced difficulties during the season.
“We still don’t know whether the upgrades made us faster or slower,” Kimi Antonelli admitted. “This year, every time we’ve raced on very old asphalt, we’ve struggled. It’s possible that the problem is simply related to this type of surface.”
The Italian identified Singapore as the first meaningful opportunity to establish the true value of the new components.
“I’m sure that after this weekend the team will have a lot of data to analyse and in Singapore we’ll have a much clearer picture.”
Mercedes did record the anticipated improvement through the faster corners but struggled in areas where the asphalt was more heavily deteriorated. The behaviour reminded the team of what it had previously observed in Bahrain.
For that reason, separating the effects of the new package from those created by the Malaysian circuit will be crucial in Singapore. Mercedes must also decide which W17 configuration to use, and depending on the data gathered, reverting from the specification introduced at Sepang has not been ruled out. The team’s development direction has already been a major theme this season, with Toto Wolff previously discussing the untapped potential of the W17.
George Russell loses Sepang podium after power-unit failure
While Kimi Antonelli maximised his result, George Russell saw a likely podium disappear only five laps from the chequered flag. The British driver had managed a solid race and was running third when his power unit began behaving abnormally.
Sensor data confirmed there was a problem, leaving Mercedes with no alternative but to stop the car.
“We saw that some sensors were starting to behave abnormally and it became clear that we would have to stop the car. We’ve had a failure of some kind, and now we have to understand what that means for his power unit pool,” Bradley Lord explained.
George Russell’s retirement was particularly damaging because of its consequences for the championship. The British driver had already decided to postpone the introduction of his fifth power unit, first at Monza and then again at Baku, with the objective of reaching Austin and taking advantage of the planned ADUO evolution for the turbocharger.
The Sepang problem could therefore force Mercedes to reconsider that programme. Bradley Lord described the risk of a genuine “double whammy”: losing a substantial number of points in Malaysia while also potentially being forced to introduce another power unit before the planned upgrade becomes available.
The retirement also widened an already substantial gap in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings, after Kimi Antonelli had previously opened an 81-point championship advantage over George Russell.
George Russell criticises Sepang race management after retirement
Speaking immediately after the race, George Russell made no attempt to hide his frustration.
“We were on the right strategy, the start was solid and the podium was absolutely within our reach. Then the Power Unit failure was a tremendous cold shower.”
George Russell ruled out the possibility that the failure had been connected to temperatures generated during the lengthy periods behind the Safety Car.
“We didn’t notice anything before the sudden failure.”
However, the British driver was also highly critical of how the Grand Prix itself had been managed, pointing to the repeated delays, the red flag and numerous neutralisations.
“The whole day felt like a farce, between the delayed start, the red flag, the Safety Car constantly coming back out and the improvised decision to do an extra lap.”
“Today didn’t feel like Formula 1. I would have been pretty disappointed even if I’d just been a fan sitting on the sofa watching this spectacle,” George Russell added. “It wasn’t good to watch and from my point of view it’s terribly frustrating.”
George Russell raises concern over complex F1 power units
The technical problem also brought the reliability of the current Formula 1 power units back into focus. George Russell argued that their complexity inevitably increases the potential for failures.
“It’s all become damn complicated. The current Power Units are incredibly complex objects and the more complex you make things, the more you increase the chances of something going wrong. This is something we need to think about very carefully for the future,” George Russell said.
Toto Wolff calls Sepang Mercedes’ worst weekend of the season
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff offered no excuses after what he described as the team’s worst weekend of the season.
“This was our worst weekend of the season. It hurts and I’m incredibly sorry for George and everyone in the team. George drove an exceptional race and was on course for a very important result, but we let him down. The reality is that it has happened too often this year and that is not acceptable,” Toto Wolff said.
His assessment of Mercedes’ overall performance was equally clear.
“We weren’t fast enough and we weren’t reliable enough in Malaysia. That’s the truth.”
Toto Wolff nevertheless praised the work of both drivers during a difficult weekend.
“Both of them kept fighting, remained focused and extracted everything possible from the car. George lost points through no fault of his own, while Kimi did an excellent job and deserved his podium.”
Mercedes must now establish exactly why its performance at Sepang fell below both that of its main rivals and the level the team had demonstrated during recent races.
“We need to understand exactly what happened this weekend. We underperformed compared to our main rivals and compared to our form in recent races. We’ll do that with our usual focus, working diligently and allowing ourselves to be guided by the data,” Toto Wolff added.
Singapore becomes crucial test for Mercedes upgrades
Mercedes has little time to complete that analysis because Singapore follows immediately. The next Grand Prix will offer the team its first opportunity to verify the conclusions drawn from Malaysia and understand whether the new W17 package genuinely represents a step forward.
More importantly, Mercedes must establish exactly what caused George Russell’s power-unit failure and what consequences it could have for his engine allocation over the remaining rounds of the season.
Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, can leave Sepang knowing he once again extracted everything available from the car. Second place increases his advantage to 84 points and further strengthens his position at the top of the championship.
For Mercedes, however, the Malaysian weekend cannot simply be regarded as another successful result for the Italian. Between W17 development and power-unit reliability, the team has two significant problems to solve quickly as the 2026 Formula 1 season moves into its decisive phase.
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