Mercedes reveals new W17 upgrade information as US Grand Prix plan emerges

As it turns out, Mercedes never planned on using its upgraded front wing beyond practice in Singapore.

Instead, Mercedes used FP1 to test that sole example, as Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord confirmed that both drivers will run the upgraded W17, front wing included, at the United States Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows had split specs in Singapore as part of an experiment.

Mercedes clarifies W17 new front wing plan

After an underwhelming debut for the upgraded W17 in Malaysia, only championship leader Kimi Antonelli used the package in Singapore. George Russell, carrying a back-of-the-grid engine penalty, opted to revert to the previous one, allowing Mercedes to compare.

Eyebrows were raised when Antonelli reverted to the old front wing after the single practice session. Some theorised that this marked further Mercedes headaches with its upgrades. As it turns out, this was not true.

That new front wing was only at Marina Bay as a test item.

“In a sprint weekend the only moment where you can do testing is FP1. It’s one session, it’s one hour, you have normally two set of tyres and then you need to learn exactly on a green track where the car is,” Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta began on the team’s Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show.

“And then, you have a different package than your teammate.

“And also, as we wanted to accelerate the learning, we even did a test with the new front wing during FP1. So in such a short time, we changed many things because our objective was to try to learn as quick as possible for the short and medium term. Wanted to check the new front wing.

“Of course, we weren’t planning to race it here, but we wanted to check it, compare with the old one, get the data, bring the data home, do the homework and prepare ourselves in the best way for the next event.

“So you need to also to see that as an investment on our future to gather the data, to gather the understanding, and then at the time to think, simulate, run on the simulator, and then move on.”

Mercedes’ Singapore GP findings have indicated that the upgraded package does provide more downforce. The challenge has been delivering it across the car, as this W17 has been demonstrating a narrower operating window.

Deputy team principal Bradley Lord confirmed that Antonelli and Russell will be back in equal-spec machinery, including the new front wing, at this week’s United States Grand Prix in Austin.

“And it’s worth saying it was worth our while running that front wing in FP1 as well,” said Lord, “because we learned things that will mean we can hopefully hit the ground running in a better way when we get to Austin with both cars in the updated config and running that kit, running the new front wing and able to hopefully make the most of that higher peak performance in a way we haven’t been able to do as effectively so far.”

Mercedes simulator driver and Sky F1 pundit Anthony Davidson pointed out that he did not know the team never intended on running the new front wing beyond Singapore FP1.

Lord responded: “We only had one there, so we’d rushed it through production.

“But obviously if you’ve only got one example, you run the risk of pit lane starts if you damage things. And so the balance of risk didn’t favour running it for qualifying or in sprint or the main race, but certainly doing the learning was really, really useful.”

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