Mercedes splits Russell and Antonelli’s car packages in Singapore

Mercedes has decided that George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will race with different specifications at the Singapore Grand Prix. Russell will return to an older package, while Antonelli gets the upgraded version, as the team tries to understand why the changes introduced in Malaysia did not produce the performance it expected.

The split is planned for the entire Sprint weekend. Russell will use the older aerodynamic package, last raced in Baku, while Antonelli will run the one that made a difficult debut at Sepang. Russell will also start at the back of the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix because of an engine penalty following his car’s failure last Sunday. The older package is the one with which he secured an impressive victory in Azerbaijan two races ago.

The decision comes as Russell is set to use a fresh power unit throughout the weekend, but without the ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) upgrade, which will not be in Singapore. Mercedes had hoped to introduce it on Russell’s car at the same race as the fifth engine of his season, whose use triggers a penalty. That plan will no longer be possible.

Russell said he was the one who first proposed splitting the packages. “Actually, I started the conversation before Sunday’s race,” he said. After the failure at Sepang, the decision became obvious to him. He also noted that the team had already been weighing the option before the race, and that he had been more in favour of it from the outset.

The problems in Malaysia explain the importance of the comparison. “Malaysia was our worst weekend of the year as a team for pace and qualifying result,” Russell said. He thought both drivers probably would have been on the podium if his power unit had not failed, but stressed that the team did not know whether the issue was specific to Malaysia or connected to the updates.

“There is nothing proving that the upgrade is the cause, but in Formula 1 you judge a car by the stopwatch, not by how much downforce it produces; and the times in Malaysia were not good,” he said. The Singapore test should also help establish whether the absence of a new front wing contributed to the problems. The component, originally intended to be part of the first package brought to Sepang, will now be fitted to Antonelli’s car.

Russell hopes the upgraded package will work as expected, as a failure would be concerning for Mercedes. “The package was meant to arrive with the front wing; maybe that was one reason it wasn’t working so well,” he suggested. Antonelli summed up what the team wants to learn from the component: “I hope it makes the difference. That is exactly what we are going to find out.”

For Russell, returning to the older specification also means getting back into a car he knows can perform. “It’s back!” he said of the version used in Baku. He recalled winning there and Antonelli winning a race in Madrid with that car, and said he hoped Mercedes could learn from it in Singapore.

Antonelli is hoping to challenge for wins in the Marina Bay Sprint and Grand Prix. Russell’s prospects of fighting at the front are expected to be limited to Saturday’s Sprint, before his engine-change penalty is applied to Sunday’s grid. Mercedes will therefore be able to compare the two packages in race conditions while working through the questions raised by the performance in Malaysia.