Russell reverts to old Mercedes spec in ‘no-brainer’ call

Mercedes is deliberately splitting its car specifications for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as it looks to get a clearer read on its latest W17 upgrade.

George Russell will subsequently recert to an older spec set-up while Kimi Antonelli will continue with the Brackley squad’s new package.

For Russell, the decision was hardly complicated. A power-unit penalty already means the Briton is expecting to start well down the grid, making Singapore an ideal opportunity to sacrifice one side of the garage for a valuable back-to-back comparison.

Mercedes introduced revised floor and bodywork at Sepang, including changes to the floor boards behind the front wheels and a ramped upper sidepod surface.

The package delivered more downforce through the high-speed corners, but the rough Malaysian track and extreme temperatures made it difficult for the team to establish exactly how much of the expected gain had translated into real-world performance.

Russell gets the old car back

Russell revealed that he had actually pushed for the specification split before last weekend's race, when Mercedes was still weighing its options.

"Actually, I instigated the conversation prior to the race on Sunday," Russell told reporters on Thursday in Singapore.

"When the failure happened it was kind of a no-brainer, because we were kind of 50-50 about it pre-race, and I was more in favour to do it, and that was even pre-race, whereas now it is a total no-brainer.

"There's no signs telling us the upgrade was not working, and we know the car we had in Baku was the same car as we had in Budapest and Zandvoort, and in Baku we were on pole by eight tenths, and in Budapest we were four tenths off the pace.

"Those fluctuations, even with a consistent car and your rivals with the same car, are drastic, you have a fluctuation of plus or minus one second, it can be that delta, so we're pretty confident it's a Malaysia specific.

"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. When you look at our pace compared to McLaren and Ferrari, it wasn't too dissimilar, it wasn't massively out of step.

"This engine penalty this weekend has given us a good opportunity to roll back, it's the car that I won in Baku with."

That last point makes the experiment particularly useful. Rather than simply comparing two different cars in isolation, Mercedes can put its recent upgrade directly against the specification that delivered Russell pole position in Baku.

The team can therefore gather another crucial piece of evidence without sacrificing much of Russell's weekend, given his grid penalty has already compromised his qualifying prospects.

Antonelli commits to the upgrade

Antonelli, meanwhile, will remain with the Sepang package throughout the Singapore Sprint weekend, even if Friday’s early session suggest the older specification might offer comparable performance.

The championship leader believes the conditions in Malaysia distorted the picture, particularly the combination of an unusually abrasive surface and extreme track temperatures.

"The numbers told us a different story in Sepang, but I think in Sepang, it was a bit of an outlier because the tarmac was just so rough. Actually, in some corners, we were missing tarmac,” he said.

"Also, it was so hot; at times we had 60-plus degrees track temperature. So I think it was a bit of an outlier and definitely I feel like this weekend is going to be a bit more representative.

"You know, cooler temperatures, the tarmac is in a much better state. And I think it's going to be a very good test because in Sepang, we struggled a lot in low speed and here we have a lot of low speed. So let's see how it's going to be.

"We'll have two different cars on two different packages. So that is going to be interesting to see how we're going to have a straight comparison on that side.

"I think there's an actual improvement [with the new package], it's just we didn't quite see it in Sepang. That's why it was such an outlier.

"Hopefully this weekend, we'll be able to understand it more and to put the car in a better place and be able to use its full potential."

• Read also: Wolff confirms Singapore engine penalty nightmare for Russell

Singapore should therefore provide Mercedes with a far cleaner experiment.

With Russell back in a proven configuration and Antonelli carrying the new parts, the team will have two direct reference points around a circuit that places a much greater emphasis on low-speed performance.

For a team still trying to understand why its promising Sepang upgrade failed to translate into an obvious step forward, the split garage could provide precisely the evidence it needs.

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