Mercedes: no major updates before a few races

Mercedes will not respond any time soon to the updates that Ferrari introduced in Barcelona. The next package won’t arrive on the W17 for a few weeks, but the Brackley team wants to take the opportunity to update the initial development plans. Meanwhile, Toto Wolff’s team is becoming aware of the limitations of the current car, some of which seem linked to the types of asphalt. Development plans In Austria there will be some small aerodynamic innovations on the Mercedes, although nothing revolutionary. “Not much stuff” defined them by Antonelli, who promises the arrival of more substantial updates in the future: “I think we will bring a bigger package in a couple of races. There will be something on an aerodynamic and mechanical level, but I still don’t know exactly what it is. The team is pushing to bring something more than what was planned, but I will know better when we get closer to the race”. The package under construction in Brackley is the first on which Antonelli has been able to give development input. The Italian had spoken to some engineers after the Miami weekend, trying for the first time to make requests regarding the behavior of the car. However, the Italian’s statements suggest that the news will not arrive before the trips to Spa and Budapest in the second half of July. The most important update in Austria, however, will be the one under the hood, given that Mercedes will run with a battery reinforced in terms of reliability, both at a hardware and software level. The limits of the W17 The Silver Arrows will therefore have to grit their teeth while waiting for developments, especially on certain types of circuit, as Antonelli observed: “We seem to struggle a bit when there are tracks with old asphalt or where there is little grip. For example, we struggled a bit in Miami and Barcelona, ​​where we were doing well anyway, but maybe not as good as on the other tracks.” Everything is linked to the behavior of the tires, given that old asphalt is also the roughest, on which the tires deform and heat up more. Conversely, on low grip tracks the difficulty is generating enough energy in the tires to get them up to temperature, as happened in Miami. Work is underway at Brackley to improve the performance of the W17 in these conditions, but Toto Wolff’s team will have to wait longer before fitting the next package into the car.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-26 15:00:00