F1, there is a new type of overtaking
At one point during the Japanese Grand Prix, George Russell who was fourth in his Mercedes saw his speed collapse in the straight before the Spoon Curve, thus allowing Charles Leclerc an easy overtaking in his Ferrari.
A decidedly strange movethen explained after the race by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who explained how the W17 was the victim of energy software bugs.
These are Wolff’s words to Sky Sports UK: “At that juncture there was a bug in the software’s electrical system, trying to give him an advantage. And instead there was a superclip that slowed down the car and made him lose position”. In short, a new type of overtaking for this F1 2026 has been unlocked, thanks to a software bug…
Wolff on Antonelli and Russell
With three victories in as many races, Mercedes is clearly the dominator of this first part of the world championship. Toto Wolff also spoke about the advantage had by Antonelli over Russell in Suzuka, underlining a set-up error for the Englishman – who he brought with him from qualifying: “The mistake put George in serious trouble with the car from Q1 onwards and even today he had to struggle with this. With evenly matched cars, the fight would have been close. Russell didn’t have a perfect car today.”
A joke also about the start of his drivers, behind the front row: “It was a bit of a clumsy start. We need to teach him to release the clutch slowly, calmly, and not so abruptly. We need to improve in this aspect.”
