Title rivals Kimi Antonelli and George Russell will drive different specifications of Mercedes’ Formula 1 car at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as the team searches for answers over its lack of performance in Malaysia.
Antonelli will run the upgraded aerodynamic package that the team debuted last weekend, while Russell will revert to the previous specification that won races in Monza, Madrid and Baku.
The team hopes that running a comparison between the two cars will help it understand why the new package did not perform as expected in Malaysia and allow it to define a longer-term development direction.
Russell is Antonelli’s closest rival in this year’s drivers’ championship, although a power unit failure in Malaysia saw him fall 84 points behind his teammate in the standings.
Russell claims he pushed for the two cars to run different specifications this weekend as soon as it became clear in Malaysia that the new package was not performing.
He said the decision then became a “no-brainer” when his power unit failure on Sunday meant he would be starting from the back of the grid in Singapore due to an engine penalty.
“Actually, I instigated the conversation prior to the race [in Malaysia] on Sunday,” Russell said. “So when the failure happened it was kind of a no-brainer because we were 50-50 about it pre-race and I was more in favour to do it, and now it is a total no-brainer.”
Russell suspects the lack of performance compared to rivals Red Bull in Malaysia was more track specific than a direct result of the upgrade, but welcomed the opportunity to return to the car specification he won with at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix two weeks ago.
“We’re pretty confident it [the lack of performance] is Malaysia specific,” he said. “When you look at the pace of Red Bull as well, they clearly overperformed compared to where they’ve been this season compared to all of the other teams.
“And actually when you look at our pace compared to McLaren and Ferrari it wasn’t too dissimilar, it wasn’t massively out of bed.
“So with this engine penalty this weekend has just given them a good opportunity to roll back, it’s the car that I won in Baku with, so yeah that’s it.”
The upgrade package is the result of months of development work after Mercedes opted not to keep pace with the updates of its rivals and instead work towards a single significant step for the final third of the season.
The upgrades to the car are far-reaching, including a new floor, rear suspension, and noticeable changes to the upper bodywork of the car, including its engine cover.
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Antonelli believes the upgrade ultimately has more potential but still requires setup work to unlock it.
“It’s just a matter of trying to put the car in the right window and understand it more,” he said. “And this weekend, I think, is a good example. It’s going to be a good opportunity to see and to compare the two packages, because we know the old one -- we’ve known it for ages.
“We know how to set up the car around that package, we know it works really well and it’s really fast in these kind of tracks.
“And, you know, we really want to understand, on the other hand, this new package and trying to really extract the maximum out of it, because the team has done a tremendous job. They’re doing so much work on this new package and it would be just a shame to write it off so early.
“So I feel like I’m quite comfortable on keeping it. And actually, you know, I really want to help the team out to understand it more and to, as I said before, try to extract the potential.”
Russell, who has won three races to Antonelli’s eight, said via PA, ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix: “The guy who’s performed the best is the guy who’s leading the championship.
“If you add up the numbers and the points, I still think I’d be very much in the game in an ordinary season. I still think I’d be on the back foot, but in the game for it to flip very quick.
“When you add up the points from this season that have been lost, you know, I’ve probably had more failures this year than I’ve had in the three seasons put together.
“Of course, it’s tough to take. If I’m being 100% fair with myself, as I’ve said before, the performance this season hasn’t been strong enough. And it probably would have affected me more if these results have ... Like, who knows if I’d have still been in the fight or not, in a more normal circumstance.
“But obviously the pressure and the momentum, every setback has an impact on that momentum.
“It’s been pretty incredible how things have panned out this year. But you’ve just got to focus on what you can control.”