Mercedes shifts focus: Development stops but learning continues

Mercedes will head into the back half of the 2025 Formula 1 season without any major car upgrades in the pipeline, but the team insists there is still much to gain from the current campaign as it lays the groundwork for the sport’s upcoming rules revolution in 2026.

The Brackley squad remains in a close scrap for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, sitting just 24 points behind runner-up Ferrari. But with the W16 still a work in progress and a new regulatory era looming, the focus is already tilting towards the long game.

The Silver Arrows are therefore channeling their efforts into gleaning critical insights to shape their future challenger, as outlined in Hungary by communications chief Bradley Lord.

A Quieter Development Race

“Obviously, every team development-wise is looking at 2026 and I think we'll see very little on the Friday declarations in terms of new parts apart from circuit-specific wings and things like that in the second half of the season,” the Briton told reporters at the Hungaroring last time out.

“So that's going to be a much lighter document than maybe it would be in a more normal season without the big change that's coming. And I think that's going to be true for every team and only logical.”

Lord stressed, however, that fewer new components do not mean the learning stops.

“But that doesn't mean we stop learning just because we haven't got aerodynamic performance or upgrades coming to the car,” he added.

“So we'll be aiming to learn as much as we can particularly around tyre management, how we're working the tyres, how we're getting the most from them and getting temperature out of them which has been one of the things that we've struggled with at some races this season.

“So that work will be ongoing also because that learning isn't specific to this generation of car. It's relevant for every racing car that we'll make in the future.”

‘Big’ Upgrades No More

Lord suggested that major updates are unlikely to materialize after F1’s summer break, not only for Mercedes but the majority of the teams on the grid.

“It would be surprising to see anyone bringing big upgrades from this point onwards,” he said.

“It kind of slightly depends on the semantics of big, whether that means lots of items on the list of declarations or whether it means lap time and things like that.

“But we often see that actually where the development items dry up you can still make a lot of progress in your understanding and learning about the car even with a relatively static configuration performance-wise.

“So we'll be aiming to do that and just race as hard as we can for the second part of the season. We're in a close fight with two other teams for ultimately P2 in the championship and we'll be giving it everything we've got to end up there at the end of the year.”

Lord’s comments were echoed by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Austrian confirming that his team’s switch to its 2026 development programme is now absolute.

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“There's no more upgrades,” Wolff said. “I think everything is completely focused and concentrated on next year.

“Now we know that we have a more stable platform that's going to give us some goodness. I think let's see how we can optimise checks and engineering in terms of finding the right set-ups that suit it. And aim to be as competitive as we can.”

While Mercedes may not be chasing radical developments for the remainder of 2025, their determination to refine processes, improve tyre management, and maximise current opportunities signals a season still rich with purpose – one where the lessons learned could be decisive when the next generation of Formula 1 machinery arrives.

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