Russell raises worrying Mercedes concern after upgrade disappointment
Photo: Race Pictures
Tobia is a Formula 1 journalist at GPblog with experience at international circuits. Since 2022, he has covered Grands Prix across Europe, delivering reliable coverage and insights from the paddock.
George Russell is struggling to reconcile the numbers Mercedes has seen from its new upgrade package with the disappointing result ultimately delivered in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
After a dominant weekend in Baku, the Briton was brought back down to earth in Malaysia despite the W17 being equipped with a significant new upgrade package. Kimi Antonelli could only manage fourth place in qualifying, while Russell endured an even more difficult session, finishing just eighth.
Speaking to GPblog among other media after qualifying, Russell admitted that Mercedes has so far struggled to translate the encouraging data from its new package into the lap-time gains expected on track.
"All the numbers say it's an improvement, but obviously, it's a sport that we need to follow the lap times and not what the numbers say. So the numbers look absolutely fine and in line with expectations."
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Russell also pointed out how difficult it is to accurately assess the impact of an upgrade without the possibility of conducting a direct back-to-back comparison, with circuit characteristics potentially masking the true performance of a new package.
Photo: Race Pictures
"If you could have done a direct back to back, it would have been great to know, but that's the challenge of this sport. If I put the upgrade package on last week, even if it was worse, we probably still would have been on pole. And we'd have been saying it was fantastic.
"And equally, if we had the old car here, maybe the result would have been even worse. So that's the challenge. As a team, we have yet to have, let's say, bad race this whole season, and this was clearly a very bad qualifying for us."
Antonelli makes stark Verstappen admission after Mercedes falls short
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Antonelli also admitted that Mercedes still has plenty of work ahead to fully understand its latest upgrade package after a difficult qualifying session in Malaysia. Speaking to GPblog among other media, the Italian explained that his own track-limits error compromised his session, but acknowledged that even a clean run would not have been enough to challenge Verstappen for pole.
Beyond the qualifying result itself, Antonelli suggested that Mercedes is still trying to establish exactly how the updated W17 needs to be operated. The new package has altered the car's working window, making it crucial for the team to understand how to extract its potential across different types of corners.
One clear contrast has already emerged at Sepang. Antonelli felt particularly competitive through the faster sections, while the W17 proved much more difficult to exploit in the slower corners. Identifying the reason for that discrepancy is therefore one of the main areas Mercedes will need to address as it continues to learn about the package.
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