Ominous Mercedes upgrade warning with ‘full benefit’ imminent

Kimi Antonelli said that Mercedes is yet to see the “full benefit” of its latest upgrade package introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Mercedes appeared to have been set for a comfortable 1-2 finish in Montréal last time out, with Antonelli having spent the first half of the race duelling with George Russell, before his teammate retired with a power unit issue.

Kimi Antonelli sees stronger Mercedes gains ahead

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Most of the grid chose to bring significant upgrades to the Canadian Grand Prix and, with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya also being well-known and well-used among teams and drivers, it has been a popular place to introduce further updates in the past.

Antonelli won his fourth consecutive race to extend his early championship lead to 43 points, and speaking after Sprint qualifying in Canada, the Italian warned that the cold weather in Montréal played its part in the difficulties teams faced – which limited Mercedes’ ability to capitalise on its new parts.

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Asked about how the updates to the W17 had integrated, Antonelli replied: “I think the package has been working, but it has been changing the balance a little bit, I think.

“Also, this weekend is a bit unique, because tyres are so important to get them in the right window, so I think we’re not seeing the full benefit of this new package.

“I think when we go to Monaco and Barcelona, we will see much better the benefits of this package, because here is just such a weird condition that just by having the tyres in the right window, it makes a big difference.”

Wolff: Upgrade gains ‘difficult to assess’ on ‘sweet circuit’

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was more cautious when assessing the team’s new parts, however.

While he agreed with Antonelli that there could be more to come from the W17’s updates, he pointed to Mercedes’ past success in Canada, alongside the need to gather more data in Monte Carlo this weekend to build a bigger picture.

“I would say at times I felt…it didn’t bring the performance gains that we had expected on paper, but it’s very difficult to assess,” he said after the chequered flag fell in Canada.

“We didn’t see the McLarens at all, and we had the pace, we had the gap, but how much is it what we have anticipated? I think it’s very difficult to judge yet, and also, Montréal was a sweet circuit for us last year.

“So is that shining a better light on our performance than it would be on any other circuit? Probably Monaco, we won’t know it either. So we need to continue to monitor and to analyse.”

Mercedes’ last Monaco Grand Prix victory came courtesy of Lewis Hamilton in 2019, with Lando Norris having taken victory in the Principality last season.

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