04/08/2025 11:20
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has explained how "a mechanical
upgrade" introduced on the W16 earlier this year resulted in
another problem 'creeping' into the car. Reverting to a pre-Imola
spec rear suspension, George Russell scored his first podium since
his victory in the Canadian Grand Prix with third place in Hungary
on Sunday, whilst Kimi Antonelli finally ended his miserable
European drought. Since an upgrade was placed on the car for the
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Antonelli has severely struggled,
failing to score a point in the six previous European races up
until the grand prix in Budapest in which he finished 10th on the
back of a one-stop strategy. Explaining the upturn in form at the
Hungaroring, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365 , Wolff
said: "We tried to solve a problem with the Imola upgrade with a
mechanical upgrade. "It may not have solved the issue, but what it
did do was let something else creep into the car, an instability
that took all confidence from the drivers, and it took us a few
races to figure that out. "Also, we were misled a little bit by the
win in Montreal, which left us thinking that maybe it's not so bad.
It [the upgrade] went off [the car], and we're back to solid form."
Mercedes simulations 'utterly wrong' Following a strong start to
the season for both drivers, with Russell scoring four podiums in
six races before Imola, and Antonelli collecting points in five of
six grands prix, the natural belief would have been that the Imola
upgrade would add performance. Except for the Montreal anomaly,
with Antonelli netting his maiden podium with third behind winner
Russell, the update proved to be a complete disaster. Mercedes
effectively wasted considerable time, resources and development on
a package that failed to deliver, after being let down by its
tools. "Upgrades are there to bring performance," added Wolff. "A
lot of simulations and analysis go into putting parts on the car,
and then they're just utterly wrong. "So you need to go back to the
analogue world and put it on the car and see what it does, and if
it doesn't do what it what it should, that's the tricky bit, I
guess, for everyone in Formula 1. "How do you bring correlation
from what the digital world tells you into the real world? That has
been a feature, and this is the latest example of how it's tripped
us over."
