Toto Wolff believes Mercedes has made progress on understanding their updated W17 following the 2026 F1 Singapore GP.
Kimi Antonelli finished on the podium from P4 on the grid, while George Russell grabbed a P9 after starting 19th.
At the Malaysia round, the Brackley-based squad brought significant upgrades as they looked to get back to being the benchmark in high-speed corners, an area McLaren in particular had overtaken them in.
However, the car was not easy to drive in Sepang, with both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli struggling in the low-speed and on straights with more drag. Nonetheless, the Italian salvaged a P2. The Brit was set for P3 until he retired with five laps remaining.
In Singapore, the driver of car #63 went back to the Baku-spec car. The championship leader stuck with the new one. In Sprint Qualifying, Russell was P2, five places ahead and 0.573s faster than his teammate. In the Grand Prix version, Antonelli was P4, two places in front and 0.185s quicker.
Mercedes worked hard on the set-up after the Sprint. Kimi Antonelli looked a lot more competitive in qualifying and then the race itself. When he had clean air during the 62-lap contest on Sunday, his pace against Charles Leclerc who was on a similar strategy was strong. Although the raw speed was not quite there initially in all stints, the W17 had slightly lower tyre deg by the end of them.
Wolff believes progress has been made but still work to do for Mercedes following the 2026 F1 Singapore GP
Speaking in his print media session after the race at Marina Bay, Toto Wolff explained that the updated W17 requires a very different of setting up the car.
While he feels progress has been made, there is more to do as the car was still tricky to drive for Antonelli.
It is even more important to understand the true performance levels of it when looking ahead to next year and what direction to take on design. Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have all won races or shown better pace than Mercedes at various rounds recently.
“So when we entered the weekend, we made the highly unusual move in a cutting-edge technology business to have two different cars, because we felt we need to accelerate our learning curve, and that was good.
“But fundamentally, looking back at the race now, the end of the weekend, I think that this new car needs a very different set-up philosophy than the previous car. This is what we are learning at the moment.
“Was it an easy car today, like the previous one? I don’t think it was. Does it have the performance that we were hoping the upgrade would bring? I don’t think so yet, but it was a step in the right direction.
“In Austin we shall see whether we can continue to consolidate that, and whether in effect it has more performance, because it’s crucial for the development direction for next year.”
Enough data banked for the updated W17 before the United States GP?
Put to him after the 2026 F1 Singapore GP whether he felt they had enough data ahead of Austin, Toto Wolff felt that was the case. He expects George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to use the Malaysia-spec car at the next round as well.
The Austrian emphasised the importance of it for learning for 2027. Barring a monumental collapse, both championships are in the bag this year.
“Yeah, I think we do.
“The latest is that we probably want to run the new cars in Austin. Both drivers think it should have a positive effect, or should have a benefit in Austin.
“And I think in terms of us learning for next year, it’s also the right direction to go. But again, I’m saying that before the clever groups have come together to see whether that’s the direction we want to go.”
