Mercedes has confirmed that its latest W17 upgrade delivered the extra downforce the team was seeking, but also created an unexpected balance problem by making the front end more powerful than anticipated. The result has been a narrower operating window, a less stable rear end in some phases of the corner and a car that has become more difficult for Kimi Antonelli and George Russell to drive consistently.
After Malaysia left Mercedes with more questions than answers, the Singapore weekend began to provide the first useful clues about what was going wrong with the package introduced at Sepang. Marina Bay was a Sprint weekend, but the reopening of parc fermé and Mercedes’ decision to run different configurations between its two drivers created a valuable opportunity to experiment and collect comparative data.
Mercedes W17 upgrade produced more downforce but changed the balance
The data gathered in Singapore will now be analysed before Formula 1 returns to Austin, with Mercedes focusing on the key question surrounding the new package: why has the extra performance been so difficult to extract consistently?
The primary objective of the update was achieved. Mercedes wanted more aerodynamic load and, particularly through the faster corners in Malaysia, the W17 showed clear signs that the new package was producing it.
The problem emerged elsewhere. Rather than adding performance uniformly across every operating condition, the update altered the W17’s aerodynamic map and moved the balance further towards the front axle than Mercedes had expected.
“I think that, if we want to look at the problem in the simplest possible way, our objective was to gain more performance, more downforce. And the data shows us that we have actually measured an increase in downforce on the car,” Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta explained on the team’s Silver Arrows Radio Show podcast.
“Unfortunately, though, it is not a black-and-white problem. It is not a zero-or-one issue. It is a very complex context with many variables involved. We think we have genuinely generated more downforce, but perhaps we have not managed to achieve the same level of increase in every single operating condition of the car. That started to change the balance of the car slightly in certain conditions.”
The W17 front end became stronger than Mercedes expected
Some change in balance was always likely when Mercedes modified the concept through changes to the floor and sidepods. The issue was not that the team failed to find the aerodynamic load it wanted, but that the gains were not distributed uniformly across the W17’s operating range.
That moved the car beyond Mercedes’ predictions and helps explain why the engineers initially struggled to identify a set-up capable of extracting the package’s full potential.
“There are still some aspects we need to sort out, especially because we tend to see a car with a different balance compared with before. The front has become more effective, perhaps even more than we expected,” Simone Resta added.
“As a result, you need to re-centre the car’s operating window. And that takes time.”
Resta nevertheless made clear that Mercedes believes there is still untapped performance in the upgrade.
Why the Mercedes operating window has become harder to find
The balance shift means Mercedes must partially rethink both the set-up and the way the W17 is driven in order to unlock its potential. Finding the correct operating window is now more difficult than it was with the previous specification of the car.
The performance is there, but the method required to access it has changed. At the same time, moving the balance too far towards the front has made the W17 more demanding behind the wheel.
That is particularly significant because the Mercedes has traditionally been characterised by a solid rear end, especially under traction. On stop-and-go circuits, the Brackley-built car has often been extremely competitive not only because of the strength of its power unit, but also because of its ability to put the power down effectively when accelerating out of slower corners.
Rear stability has suffered under braking and corner entry
The new balance has also forced Mercedes’ drivers to reconsider certain aspects of their driving style.
Kimi Antonelli in particular has often tried to “cut” the corner as much as possible on entry, loading the front axle aggressively to reduce the distance travelled through the middle of the turn, gain time and return to the throttle earlier on exit.
That technique worked particularly well with the previous W17 specification because the car retained a stable rear end under braking, allowing Antonelli to attack the front axle without destabilising the car.
The Malaysian upgrade changed that relationship. With the car now more front-biased, part of the previous entry stability has been lost.
As a consequence, the drivers must adapt both the way they turn into the corner and how they manage the car through the middle phase.
Why Antonelli has complained of mid-corner understeer
In both Malaysia and Singapore, Kimi Antonelli complained of mid-corner understeer. The problem is partly linked to the fact that he cannot always make the car rotate in the initial phase exactly as he wants.
If that first phase is compromised, the problem carries through the remainder of the corner. The driver arrives at the apex with a less favourable trajectory and then also loses time on exit when returning to the throttle.
To counter that understeer, there are essentially two options. The driver can add more steering lock, increasing the load on the front tyres, or use the throttle to help rotate the car through the middle of the corner, as happened at Sepang.
The problem with the second approach is that on an abrasive circuit with high temperatures, such as Malaysia, using the rear tyres in this way increases stress and thermal degradation.
That helps explain why the W17 encountered a double problem through Sepang’s slower corners.
Singapore experiment pointed Mercedes towards a solution
It was therefore no surprise that Mercedes chose to move in the opposite direction after parc fermé reopened following the Singapore Sprint.
The team needed more data and used the opportunity to experiment. The set-up direction chosen for qualifying and the race ultimately proved to be the better one, reducing the excessive sharpness of the front end.
The wet Sprint offered another useful indication. A strong front end is generally helpful in wet conditions, but on Antonelli’s car it was initially too dominant.
“We had a car that at the beginning was biased towards the front, with a lot of oversteer and difficult to drive,” Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord explained.
“As the front tyres wore, we found a much more satisfactory balance. From that point onwards, Kimi had the pace of the leaders.”
Antonelli’s lap times showed the improvement
The change was also visible on the stopwatch.
On Saturday, despite slower track conditions, Kimi Antonelli was the only top-10 driver together with Lewis Hamilton to improve on the lap time he had set during Friday qualifying.
A significant part of Antonelli’s improvement came in the second sector, the more technical part of the lap, where he was able to push harder in areas where the older specification used by George Russell had previously offered more predictable behaviour.
Mercedes will bring back Singapore wing in Austin
Mercedes plans to use the wing that appeared during Singapore practice again in Austin as part of its effort to recalibrate the W17 and make the operating window easier to find.
The aim is not to abandon the new package, but to rebalance the car so the additional downforce can be exploited more consistently.
“We need to re-centre the operating window,” Simone Resta said. “We need to rework some mechanical aspects of the car, trying to refine some of the characteristics we are seeing with this package.”
Mercedes therefore heads to the United States Grand Prix with a clearer understanding of the upgrade’s strengths and weaknesses. The new package has created more aerodynamic load, but it has also shifted the W17’s balance in an unexpected direction. The next task is to recover rear stability, widen the operating window and make that additional performance easier for the drivers to access.
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