Singapore: Mercedes puts two different cars on track to judge its Malaysia package
Two drivers, two specifications and a question that two days of lap times, read on the right tyres, cannot yet answer.
— The first version compared Russell's and Antonelli's practice times without saying they were on different tyres (soft and medium), called the sprint the only clean comparison between the two cars and opened on the number of lines in the FIA document. We have added the comparison on the same tyre, Saturday's qualifying sessions and the team's statements.
Mercedes arrived in Singapore without knowing whether the package it brought to Malaysia works. Toto Wolff admitted as much: the team did not know whether the upgrade was performing below what it expected. The answer is an experiment. George Russell goes back to the specification Mercedes won with in Baku; Kimi Antonelli keeps the Malaysia one, with a new front wing to evaluate.
The wing is the only update Mercedes declares to the FIA for this Grand Prix, written on two lines of the document: the wing and its endplate. According to the team it changes how load is distributed along the chord of the profile, from leading edge to trailing edge, and along the span, from the centre of the car out to the endplate. The stated aim is better performance across all operating conditions and better control of the front tyre wake, the disturbed air the wheel leaves behind it.
It is work on a strength: across the 13 races in which we measure cornering speed none of the 11 teams does better than Mercedes. How much the wing is worth the document does not say, because it contains no performance figures.
Wolff confirms the team is running two different specifications on its two cars. Going back with Antonelli's car is not an option: according to Bradley Lord it would take two days of work, so for this weekend the team is staying with the configuration it has. The team's statements do not say whether the new wing stayed on the car after practice. That gap matters.
In practice Russell was fastest and Antonelli seventh, which looked like a first verdict against the Malaysia package. But the two times were not on the same tyre. Mercedes writes that Antonelli's lap was on the medium, and the timing data confirm it: Russell lapped in 1:32.274 on the soft, Antonelli in 1:33.525 on the medium.
The only compound both used in practice was the hard, and there the gap almost disappears: Antonelli did 1:33.830, Russell 1:33.886. We do not know the fuel load or the run plan, so these remain two laps, not two cars in the same conditions.
In sprint qualifying both set their time on the soft, and Russell was ahead: second in 1:31.276, with Antonelli seventh, 0.573s back. Andrew Shovlin says neither car had a good balance and that Antonelli lacked confidence on braking and corner entry. He adds that the update is not bringing the step the team expects.
The sprint was run in the wet on intermediates and is no use for the comparison: Russell went off on the first lap, his own mistake as he says himself, and Antonelli finished fourth.
In Saturday's qualifying, again on the soft, the order flipped: Antonelli was fourth in 1:31.562, Russell sixth, 0.185s back. For Shovlin, Antonelli, running the updated package, was closer to the pace than the day before, but fourth on the grid is nothing for the team to get excited about. Russell felt the balance was worse than on Friday. Antonelli says the window in which the update works seems narrower.
Two days of comparison do not yet say whether the Malaysia package works. On Friday Russell's advantage almost disappears when the comparison is on the same tyre; on Saturday, in qualifying, Antonelli was the one in front. A classification position does not measure an update: fuel, run plan, traffic, track evolution and the driver all count.
The race will not settle it. Russell starts from the back of the grid for the power unit changed after the failure in Malaysia, and Wolff says more running is needed before drawing conclusions. The real comparison is postponed to the next Grands Prix.
The document the FIA publishes on Friday, before practice, lists the new components each team brings to the track. In Singapore it contains four updates, written on five lines, and they come from three teams out of eleven. Mercedes writes its one on two lines, the wing and the endplate.
Red Bull declares a front wing obtained by modifying a previous wing, for more local load without losing flow stability, and larger exits in the rear wheel bodywork, to cool the brakes for the braking energy it expects here. It had declared something in 15 of the 16 previous weekends. McLaren brings a new front brake duct, designed to cool them better here and in the races that follow.
Ferrari, Williams, Racing Bulls, Aston Martin, Haas, Alpine, Audi and Cadillac declare no new components for this Grand Prix. That does not mean their cars are unchanged: set-up and parts brought in earlier weekends are not in this document. And the document never says which of the two cars a part goes on, or what it is worth.