If Mercedes left Sepang with more questions than answers, the Singapore Grand Prix weekend finally provided the engineering team with the first real clues to unlocking their new package. Although it was a sprint weekend, the reopening of parc ferme and the decision to split configurations between the two drivers offered a valuable opportunity to experiment and gather critical data.
The data will be analysed during the break ahead of Austin, with one key goal: understanding exactly why the package introduced in Malaysia hasn’t properly worked as expected, despite the potential to extract. Mercedes has now confirmed a crucial piece of the puzzle, explaining that the upgrades shifted the car's aerodynamic balance, making the W17 significantly more difficult to drive.
