Russell warns Mercedes upgrade is being masked by tyre woes

George Russell resisted the temptation to draw any grand conclusions from Mercedes’ much-anticipated W17 upgrade after Friday’s opening day of running at Sepang that left the Briton with more questions than answers.

Mercedes arrived in Malaysia with its first substantial package since the Canadian Grand Prix in May, revising the floor, rear suspension and bodywork of a car that has already established itself as the benchmark of the 2026 season.

Yet the opening day offered little immediate evidence of a transformation. Russell finished seventh in FP2, with championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli eighth, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar led the way.

More pace, but too much heat

Russell could feel the intended aerodynamic gains, particularly through Sepang’s faster corners. But the oppressive Malaysian conditions created another problem that Mercedes now needs to solve before qualifying.

“I'm feeling the downforce in some of the corners, but with this amount of tyre overheating and tyre degradation that kind of trumps everything,” the Briton said.

“So we just need to get on top of that overnight. That's more of a setup rather than the upgrade itself, and we go from there.

The difficulty for Russell is separating the genuine performance of the new package from the characteristics of a circuit Mercedes has not visited in years.

"When you bring an upgrade to any circuit, it’s difficult to know what your pure performance is and what it isn’t.

“I think if we had our new car last week, we would have said things were absolutely incredible and if we had our old version today, I don’t think things would have been much different either."

• Read also: A look at Mercedes’ heavily revised W17 in Sepang

That caution is particularly relevant given how little recent running Formula 1 teams have had at Sepang. Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord nevertheless said the upgrade was behaving as expected, with both drivers able to feel the aerodynamic difference in high-speed corners.

Verstappen and McLaren raise the stakes

Mercedes may therefore have a setup problem to untangle rather than an upgrade problem to fix. But Russell is under no illusion that the opposition will make the weekend straightforward.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped FP1 before Leclerc put Ferrari at the head of the field in FP2, while McLaren showed encouraging long-run pace despite a mixed opening day.

“Currently, I think Verstappen looks very fast and then the race pace of McLaren, it looks very quick, but, you know, never say never,” he concluded.

After five months without a major change to the W17, Mercedes finally has fresh performance to work with. Russell’s Friday, however, suggested that understanding exactly what the new package is capable of may take a little longer.

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