When Mercedes opted to run an aggressively divided garage for the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint weekend, the goal was simple: gather enough side-by-side data to finally understand why their highly anticipated aerodynamic upgrade failed in Malaysia. Instead, the radical split-specification test has only plunged the factory deeper into utter confusion.
Following Friday's Sprint qualifying shootout at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, George Russell successfully secured a front-row starting position alongside polesitter Max Verstappen while driving the older, previous-specification aerodynamic package. Meanwhile, his teammate Kimi Antonelli - who continued to run the new, supposedly faster upgrades - heavily struggled with vehicle balance and qualified down in seventh place.
George Russell
For Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineering director for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, the fact that the older car is significantly outperforming the massive factory update is an incredibly alarming sign for its 2026 championship hopes. After a difficult weekend in Malaysia, the team decided to run split specifications despite the difficulties of a Sprint format weekend.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Despite George Russell's impressive pace on the front row, the Mercedes pitwall is far from celebrating. The fact that the older car is faster essentially confirms that the team's wind tunnel correlation is fundamentally flawed.
Mercedes leads the constructors' championship with 556 points, while Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers' standings with 320 points, ahead of George Russell in second place with 236 points.
Source: Motorsport
