Mercedes remains the big unknown at the Spanish GP: the W16 continues to be a mystery because—aside from McLaren—it seems to be a highly competitive car at least over a single lap. George Russell starts from the second row alongside Max Verstappen: and that’s not just a figure of speech, as the Brit matched the four-time World Champion’s lap time to the thousandth (1’11”848), starting fourth only because he set the time after Max. Kimi Antonelli also showed his claws, earning sixth place on the third row, confirming the one-lap potential of the silver and black arrow.
The Brackley-based team is making a maximum effort to close the gap to McLaren. Simone Resta, deputy technical director and head of W16 development, hasn’t hidden the team’s desire to start winning races, although the climb back to the top seems more difficult and complicated than expected.
The car is fast, but it struggles to maintain strong pace over a race distance, meaning all the effort to extract performance has yet to translate into the expected results.
The front wing, designed to pass FIA scrutineering under the new flexibility parameters, was introduced at Imola, just like McLaren and Alpine. In Imola, Mercedes introduced an upgrade package that included “…small changes in the area of the air intake,” Simone admitted in an interview with Motorsport.com, “the front suspension, and also on the chassis side, there was a modification to the bodywork—but that won’t be the last development because we’re working on much more.”
The most significant change—undeclared—was made to the rear suspension, with the front arm of the upper wishbone mounted much lower, almost aligned with the lower triangle. This solution was meant to give more stability to the rear and help balance the W16, thus widening the operating window for tyre management. However, it didn’t deliver the desired results and was set aside for Monaco and Barcelona. It hasn’t been scrapped: it simply requires different setup parameters, and it’s a solution we will likely see again soon.
Mercedes, meanwhile, continues piecing together the technical puzzle. In Montmeló, a new floor appeared aimed at generating more downforce. We had already shown images of the revised outer section of the floor edge, where the number of extraction slots for air from the outermost floor channels had increased. Now we highlight the new design of the flow diverters that separate the Venturi tunnels—an outcome of meticulous wind tunnel work aimed at increasing downforce.
The rear wing was also revised, specifically to adapt the W16 to the characteristics of the Spanish track. The main profile was altered, with a larger spoon-shaped central section, and a nolder appeared on the DRS flap, while the flap supports are now the high-drag version.
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