When the Mercedes team arrived in Malaysia, they expected their highly anticipated upgrade package to completely solidify their championship lead. Instead, the updates drastically underperformed, leaving team principal Toto Wolff scrambling to figure out why the real-world pace failed to match the factory wind tunnel data.
To solve the puzzle, Mercedes deliberately divided their garage for the ongoing Singapore Grand Prix weekend. While George Russell has reverted to an older, proven car specification, his teammate Kimi Antonelli is continuing to run the controversial Malaysia upgrades.
However, during Thursday's media availability, George Russell revealed a massive missing piece of the development puzzle.
As it turns out, the failed aerodynamic package that was run in Sepang was actually incomplete.
Max Verstappen and George Russell
"We have a front wing this weekend that Kimi Antonelli is running that we didn't have in Malaysia," George Russell explained to the media. "The package was meant to come with the front wing."
Because modern Formula 1 aerodynamics rely heavily on how the front wing manipulates and conditions the air flowing over the rest of the chassis, running the new floor and sidepods without the intentionally matched front wing potentially ruined the car's overall balance. According to official FIA documents released ahead of the Marina Bay track sessions, Mercedes is indeed one of only three teams to introduce new front wing elements for the Singapore Grand Prix.
George Russell strongly suspects this single delayed component is entirely responsible for the team's disastrous drop in pace during the previous race weekend.
"Maybe that was a reason why it wasn't working so well in Malaysia," George Russell noted. "So there's nothing telling us it shouldn't work."
While Kimi Antonelli tests the fully completed upgrade package, George Russell will spend his Singapore weekend running the older aerodynamic set-up. Given that the British driver is already forced to take a massive grid penalty following his devastating engine failure in Malaysia, sacrificing his ultimate aerodynamic ceiling to act as a baseline set-up reference is a highly logical strategy for the Mercedes team.
Kimi Antonelli and George Russell
However, despite running older machinery, the Briton remains incredibly optimistic about his chances of fighting through the field. He quickly reminded reporters that the older specification is still a proven, race-winning machine.
"But of course, the car I had in Baku and I won in Baku, Kimi Antonelli won in Madrid, it's still a fast car, so hopefully we can still have some good fun," George Russell concluded.
George Russell currently sits 2nd in the drivers' championship with 236 points, while Mercedes leads the constructors' standings with 556 points.
Source: Motorsport
