Will Buxton expresses concern regarding Mercedes F1 enhancements prior to the Singapore Grand Prix.
Formula 1 commentator Will Buxton has expressed worries regarding Mercedes' recent upgrade package, suggesting that team principal Toto Wolff believes their significant modifications to the floor and sidepods may have cost them up to half a second per lap.
The Brackley-based team rolled out substantial upgrades at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, which led to changes on nearly every body surface, aimed at enhancing medium-to-high speed downforce.
Though expectations were elevated as they approached the Sepang International Circuit, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell qualified in third and seventh places, respectively. The Italian driver secured a second-place finish while Russell had to retire due to a power unit problem.
On the Up To Speed podcast, Buxton pondered whether the technical upgrade is fundamentally flawed or if it was merely impacted by the specific conditions of the Malaysian track.
"Clearly, the DNF is beyond his control, yet Mercedes never seemed to be in contention for the top spots," Buxton remarked.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes
"They implemented a significant upgrade. Is it, and I suppose we will only find out this weekend, a situation where the upgrade didn't yield results or was it influenced by track-specific factors that prevented them from achieving their goals?
"For those unfamiliar, major upgrades to components like the floor and the sidepods are intended to increase downforce on the car, which could lead to a slight reduction in straight-line speed, but they anticipated benefits through the corners. They expected to gain about three tenths of a second. However, Toto now believes they might have actually lost around four or five [tenths].
"Thus, rather than a gain, it could be a setback. I believe they plan to conduct back-to-back evaluations in Singapore comparing the old spec with the new spec. However, there will only be one practice session since it's a sprint weekend."
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F1 Singapore GP: Max Verstappen secures sprint pole position while Kimi Antonelli finishes in seventh place.
