Mercedes boss admits team is baffled by failed 2026 F1 upgrades

When the Mercedes opted to run an aggressively divided garage for the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint weekend, the goal was simple: gather enough side-by-side data to finally understand why their highly anticipated aerodynamic upgrade failed in Malaysia. Instead, the radical split-specification test has only plunged the factory deeper into utter confusion.

Following Friday’s Sprint qualifying shootout at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, George Russell successfully secured a front-row starting position alongside polesitter Max Verstappen while driving the older, previous-specification aerodynamic package. Meanwhile, his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli - who continued to run the new, supposedly faster upgrades - heavily struggled with vehicle balance and qualified down in seventh place.

For Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineering director for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, the fact that the older car is significantly outperforming the massive factory update is an incredibly alarming sign for its 2026 championship hopes.

"After a difficult weekend in Malaysia, we decided to run our cars in split specification this weekend here in Singapore," Shovlin explained to the media. "It is not the easiest track to do that at, or have the Sprint format, as it often takes a bit of time to get the car set-up dialled in."

Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images

Despite Russell's impressive pace on the front row, the Mercedes pitwall is far from celebrating. The fact that the older car is faster essentially confirms that the team's wind tunnel correlation is fundamentally flawed.

"We’ve seen that today as while we're pleased to see George on the front row, it has left us with a bit of head scratching to do to understand why the update is not bringing the performance step we expect," Andrew Shovlin confessed.

While Russell was able to confidently extract maximum pace from the older, proven specification, Antonelli was actively fighting the new aerodynamic package throughout the tight, unforgiving 90-degree corners of the Singapore street circuit.

"Neither car had a great balance, although Kimi was lacking more confidence on the braking and entry phase, and that's what you need to attack a qualifying lap here," Shovlin noted regarding the championship leader's struggles.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images

With rigid parc fermé regulations heavily restricting major mechanical changes before Saturday's Sprint race, the Mercedes engineers will have to rely on software tweaks and minor front-wing flap adjustments to try and salvage the updated package.

"We'll keep working to understand why that's the case," Shovlin stated. "We've got plenty of data around us to try and make some progress, and hopefully we'll be able to get Kimi's car in a better place for main qualifying tomorrow."

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