Mercedes Baffled as Sepang Upgrade Backfires: From FP3 Pace-Setters to P4 and P8

On Saturday morning, Mercedes looked like the team to beat at Sepang. By Saturday evening, Toto Wolff was struggling to explain what had gone wrong.

Kimi Antonelli topped final practice by 0.278 seconds. A few hours later he qualified fourth, and George Russell eighth. It was the team's worst qualifying in months, and it came on the weekend Mercedes brought a major upgrade to the W17.

How practice unfolded

Friday's two sessions had mixed results. In FP1, the first F1 running at Sepang since 2017, Max Verstappen set the pace with a 1:37.520. Russell was second, 0.383s back, and told his team over the radio, "This track is very cool." Mercedes also ran a special livery honouring title partner PETRONAS.

FP2 was different. Charles Leclerc topped it with a 1:37.528, ahead of Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris, while Russell and Antonelli were down in seventh and eighth. The stewards also looked at an incident in which Gabriel Bortoleto had to take avoiding action when he came up behind Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton later got a warning. Bortoleto's session ended two minutes early when he stopped on track, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car.

In FP3 Mercedes appeared to have found their pace again. Antonelli went fastest with a 1:36.302, with Verstappen second and Russell fourth. The session was red-flagged after Ollie Bearman's Haas dropped brake shrouding at Turn 10.

The qualifying slump

That pace was gone in qualifying. "We brought an update to the car that was supposed to make it a few tenths faster," Wolff said, as reported by TheJudge13. "In the end, however, the opposite happened."

Speaking to RACER, Wolff named two problems. "It looks like we are very draggy... losing a lot of time on the straights, to especially Max. And then through the low speed, in Turn 2 we are not able to turn the car, there's just too much understeer." He added: "You're expecting three tenths to kick in, and it looks like three or four or five-tenths backwards."

Drivers searching for answers

Russell was candid. "We don't know, in all honesty," he told Formula1.com. "It's the most demanding circuit on the tyres, so we don't know exactly why we didn't have the pace."

Even so, he expects today to be different. "Very high tyre degradation, all three tyre compounds look viable, so I think there will be some opportunities," he said. "I think we can fight for the podium."

Antonelli asked people not to rush to judge the package. "The team has done a tremendous job on bringing this upgrade, but probably the window of the way the car operates is completely different," he told RACER. He also noted that Mercedes have struggled on similar surfaces before and said Singapore would be a better test.

Why it matters

Antonelli arrived with a 66-point lead over Russell, so one difficult weekend will not decide the title. Still, with Red Bull and Ferrari on the front row and McLaren starting fifth and sixth, Mercedes face a hard afternoon. Hadjar's penalty means Antonelli starts third and Russell seventh.

Key takeaways

• Antonelli led FP3 but qualified fourth, promoted to third by a penalty. Russell qualified eighth and starts seventh.
• Wolff blamed high drag on the straights and understeer at slow corners on the new package.
• Russell expects high degradation and a variety of tyre strategies to give Mercedes chances today.
• The Leclerc (FP2) and Verstappen (FP1) practice times pointed to a close fight at the front.

FAQ

Who topped each practice session at Sepang? Verstappen topped FP1, Leclerc FP2 and Antonelli FP3.

What is wrong with the Mercedes upgrade? Wolff said the car is "very draggy" on the straights and has too much understeer in slow corners such as Turn 2. The team has not yet found the cause.

Did Hamilton get a penalty for impeding Bortoleto? No. Reports say he was given a warning for the Friday incident.

Sources: Formula1.com, RACER, TheJudge13, Sky Sports, GPblog, The Race