Sixth place, more than a minute behind an untouchable McLaren. After shining in Canada just two weeks earlier with the season’s first win on a favorable track, Austria was a harsh wake-up call for Mercedes — or better, a burning setback — as the team completely melted under Spielberg’s heat, despite targeting the podium beforehand.
Under the Red Bull Ring sun, the W16 experienced its worst weekend of the year, plagued by the same tire overheating issues that had already slowed it down in Jeddah and Imola. A race to forget, also because Mercedes lost over a minute to the MCL39s and more than thirty seconds to Ferrari, which was supposed to be their main rival.
The difficulties were so severe that at Spielberg George Russell finished only five seconds ahead of mid-field teams, more focused on watching his mirrors than chasing the Ferraris, except for a brief duel with Lewis Hamilton early in the race. The poor performance led Russell to call the Austrian GP worse than he could have ever imagined.
“I expected a tough race, but it was worse than I could have ever imagined. The problem is clear: we came from a win in Canada with no tire overheating, we were the fastest. But as soon as we reach a track with some overheating, we drop off drastically.”
It’s not just about temperatures
Russell’s words highlight that tire overheating remains the W16’s most limiting problem. But it’s not only about temperature. Even in Canada, the asphalt reached 50°C, with tires even one step softer than those used in Austria.
In Spain, the temperature was also near 50°C, and although harder compounds were used, the gap was less than 30 seconds and not too far from Ferrari. This shows the main issues are not solely temperature-related but a combination of factors, including track layout and how the car interacts with the tires.
Why the Canada win was no anomaly, despite the heat
Canada’s slow, sharp corners limited thermal stress, preventing McLaren from fully exploiting its strengths. In contrast, Austria’s track essentially splits into two parts: one with heavy braking zones interrupted by three DRS straights, and another with fast, consecutive corners that transfer a lot of energy to the tires, raising overheating risks.
The sequence of fast corners made a difference
In qualifying, the W16 managed to keep pace on straights and heavy braking, nearly matching McLaren’s record. But in fast corners, especially turn 9, Mercedes clearly struggled compared to other top teams.
This was unusual because at least on a single lap, a closer Mercedes was expected, as seen on other fast circuits like Imola or Jeddah, where problems appeared more on race pace in cooler conditions (below 40°C). Instead, the long-run pace gave the clearest indications, which misled the team.
“We felt there was a clear direction we wanted to follow, perfectly logical for Canada but a bit counterintuitive for Austria. Our long runs looked really good. But then, obviously, temperatures rose, grip increased, and in the end, you realize it might have been better to stick with what we already knew from last year here,” Toto Wolff commented.
Because basic setup choices weren’t substantially changed from Friday, when track temperatures rose by about 10°C between Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race, Mercedes melted and struggled, as did Red Bull, with qualifying problems worsening on a fairly abrasive surface.
Not only did issues intensify, but they also affected other parts of the track: with overheated tires, traction efficiency decreased. The fast corners in succession, interrupted by straights that still stress rear tires, created a perfect storm.
“The conditions created the perfect storm. The asphalt is one of the roughest of the season. It’s a high-speed track, the most laps of the season, and 50°C track temperature,” George Russell added.
The number of laps is important because the short circuit means more passes through high-speed sections, reducing cooling time for the tires.
On experimenting
Toto Wolff also explained that Mercedes chose to run some experimental tests this weekend, looking ahead to 2026. Before the Canadian race, Simone Resta explained that problems during the triple header partly came from a wrong setup window, which Wolff said repeated in Austria.
“The only positive takeaway from this weekend is that we tried something extreme: it worked in Montreal, but not here. We could have used last year’s setup and maybe, I don’t know, we would have been on the podium,” the Team Principal said.
“We tried to combine elements from Barcelona and Montreal in terms of setup and aero-mechanical balance, but it was the wrong choice. Now we’ve ticked that box too. It would have been dramatic if we were fighting for a win or a championship, but we’re not.” The hope now is that at Silverstone the track will be cooler and the fresh asphalt will help the W16.
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