The radical experiment conducted by the Mercedes Formula 1 team during sprint qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix has exposed a core weakness within their latest development package. By splitting specifications across their garage for the Marina Bay weekend, the Silver Arrows sought a swift answer to their previous struggles, only to discover fundamental handling differences between the old and new specs.
George Russell starred in the older-spec machine to qualify second for the sprint race, carving out a massive 0.573-second advantage over team-mate Kimi Antonelli. The young Italian was entrusted with the latest upgrade package that the team originally debuted one week prior in Malaysia, setting up a direct intra-team benchmark to diagnose why their performance had plateaued.
That bold experiment immediately yielded answers regarding the car's DNA, revealing that Antonelli's updated challenger suffers from an extremely narrow balance window. The car transitions aggressively between understeer and oversteer phases, robbing the driver of the crucial confidence needed to attack heavy braking zones and technical entry points on a high-stress street circuit.
Furthermore, this volatile handling trait causes the tyres to slide far more than is ideal, severely hampering single-lap qualifying pace. While this specific limitation is now evident, Mercedes admits it does not yet fully understand the root cause or whether the setup window is simply too restrictive for the aerodynamic gains introduced.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin conceded that the session left the engineering group scratching their heads over the lack of anticipated performance gains. According to insights shared via The-Race, Shovlin noted that neither car possessed an optimal balance, but Antonelli specifically lacked entry-phase stability. Team boss Toto Wolff echoed these sentiments, stressing that while the new car is trickier to drive, the primary objective for the remainder of the Singapore weekend remains data collection over immediate lap time glory.
Baca Juga
Fred Vasseur menuntut Max Verstappen dijatuhi penalti lima posisi start setelah lolos dari hukuman bendera kuning di kualifikasi sprint GP Singapura.
Kelemahan upgrade baru Mercedes terungkap di GP Singapura setelah George Russell unggul atas Kimi Antonelli yang memakai paket pengembangan terbaru.
Kimi Antonelli tidak bisa kembali ke spesifikasi lama mobil Mercedes di Singapura karena batasan teknis sidepod dan aturan ketat parc ferme.
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