Mercedes came into the Singapore weekend planning to evaluate their big upgrade from last weekend which appeared to fail in Malaysia. Yet despite handing George the old spec W17 car as a benchmark for Antonelli in the upgraded version, the team’s run plans appeared somewhat strange.
Both Mercedes drivers went out on the hard tyre as did the rest of the field except for the Cadillac pair. And it was Kimi Antonelli who set the quickest time on the white side walled tyre, although his team mate George Russell was a mere 0.056 seconds off the pace.
So there was little to learn for Mercedes except that their driver with the upgraded car, expected to bring some 3/10ths of a second in performance, was just a fraction ahead of Russell in the old spec W17 car.
Qualifying Simulations and Verstappen’s Pace
What came next was strange. Russell went out for his qualifying simulation in the softest compound available this weekend and proceeded to set the best time of the session with a 1:32.274. With the track in the afternoon sun at 53 degrees celsius, the pole position time for the Grand Prix should be significantly lower.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was next (+0.198) ahead of Lando Norris (+0.273), then it was Lewis Hamilton (+0.499) and Oscar Piastri (+0.584), all these drivers ran the soft tyre which will be used for Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday evening.
However, the next three drivers decided to save a set of the soft tyres and did qualifying simulations for the Sprint which is held on the yellow side walled medium tyre. Max Verstappen was quickest amongst this group by a country mile setting a time of 1:33.006 which was +0.732 seconds off the pace.
Behind him was Kimi Antonelli in the upgraded Mercedes but he was over half a second slower than Verstappen on the same set of tyres. This does not bode well for Mercedes with their final big improvements on the car for 2026. Further, it was strange that George ran the soft tyre, whilst Kimi ran the medium tyre, given Mercedes were attempting to understand the difference between the two specifications of car.
Max’s best time was ominous for the rest of the field given Sprint qualifying session one and two is run with mandatory medium Pirelli tyres. On the hard tyre, Verstappen was just ninth quickest, but he ran for just 7 laps before his radio failed and he was forced to pit losing around half the session while his communications was repaired.
Confusion in the Garage and Toto Wolff’s Fury
Mercedes were clearly unable to get the setup on the new spec car in Kimi Antonelli’s hands to correlate with their simulations before the race weekend. Jenson Button issued a stern warning to the team stating, “that can spiral very quickly if they don’t get on top of it.”
As soon as the session concluded, there was a frenzied effort from the Mercedes mechanics surrounding Antonelli’s car. As the work concluded it was clear they had fitted the old specification front wing to their Italian driver’s W17, whilst leaving the rest of the upgrades in place.
Sky F1’s veteran pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz commented, “they seem to be lost on what’s working and what’s not on these two Mercedes”.
During the previous Grand Prix in Malaysia, Sky F1’s Martin Brundle had commented he thought Mercedes would prefer Kimi Antonelli to win the 2026 drivers’ championship. Following George Russell’s engine failure in the closing laps of the race in Sepang, social media erupted with conspiracy theories over whether Mercedes had anything to do with Russell’s persistent DNFs, whilst Kimi Antonelli has suffered just one in Barcelona.
In between FP1 and Sprint qualifying, the Mercedes team boss was present during the FIA team principal’s official press conference. He let rip over the conspiracy theories which had followed Brundle’s comments in Malaysia.
“They’re brainless, whoever thinks that. I mean, it’s completely nonsensical. We’ve had it in the past with Lewis [Hamilton] fans. I don’t know what’s going on… Do they think I have a button and that says, ‘George, engine failure now’. Or disadvantage one driver against the other when we’re fighting for a constructor championship?
“We’ve always had the mindset providing everybody equal material. But I guess, you know, this may be where social media goes today. You know, people hide behind their screens, and then they lash out. There’s a lot of polarisation going on.
“Sometimes I read what people write. I find it hilarious. These people really contribute to my own entertainment when they’re abusing the team or myself… I’m Satan, I’ve heard!” fumed Toto Wolff.
Russell Reflects on His Season
Russell’s DNFs have come in Canada, Belgium and Malaysia, yet even had he not suffered two more than Antonelli, the 84 point gulf between the drivers would only be reduced by a potential 36 points.
George Russell himself reflected on this season during the drivers’ media day on Thursday in Singapore. “I don’t think my performance has been good enough this year, independent of good luck and bad luck. I feel whenever I have bad luck, I can be disappointed by it- but I want to focus on the things I can control first.
“In all of my years in Formula 1, I’ve always had a great record against my teammates – especially in qualifying. I think it was sort of 80-20 in my qualifying records [before]. This year, I’m maybe 40-60, so that really shows I haven’t done a good enough job this season – independent of the good luck and the bad luck.”
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The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
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