{"id":3319,"date":"2026-10-03T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=3319"},"modified":"2026-10-03T08:15:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:15:04","slug":"mercedes-expected-a-0-3s-gain-wolff-says-it-has-gone-backwards-at-sepang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/mercedes-expected-a-0-3s-gain-wolff-says-it-has-gone-backwards-at-sepang\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes expected a 0.3s gain \u2014 Wolff says it has gone backwards at Sepang"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mercedes qualified fourth with Antonelli and eighth with Russell at Sepang.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wolff said the team expected a three-tenths improvement but instead appeared to have lost performance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mercedes still believes the upgrade works and is investigating the unexpected behaviour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Toto Wolff admitted Mercedes appeared to have gone backwards at Sepang despite bringing a major upgrade expected to deliver around three-tenths of a second.<\/strong> The team principal described unexpected handling problems after Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth and George Russell eighth for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli had topped final practice, but Mercedes could not reproduce that advantage in <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/\">Formula 1<\/a> qualifying. Max Verstappen took pole for Red Bull, with Lewis Hamilton joining him on the front row for Ferrari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to <em>Sky Sports F1<\/em> after qualifying at Sepang, Wolff contrasted the expected improvement with the performance Mercedes had delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe expected to be three-tenths forward and we are four or five backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Straight-line losses and low-speed understeer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Wolff identified two areas of concern: straight-line performance and low-speed cornering.<\/strong> He said Mercedes was losing significant time to Verstappen on the straights, while understeer prevented the car from turning effectively through slower corners, particularly Turn 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That combination complicated the team\u2019s assessment of its updated car. Mercedes had encountered unusual behaviour on Friday, appeared to make progress with Antonelli in FP3, and then struggled again in qualifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final classification left Antonelli <strong>0.501s behind Verstappen<\/strong>, with Russell <strong>0.741s off pole<\/strong>. The complete times are available in the <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/verstappen-takes-sepang-pole-ahead-of-hamilton-full-bahrain-gp-qualifying-results\/\">full Sepang qualifying results<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wolff still believes in the upgrade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mercedes has not concluded that the new package itself is responsible for the setback.<\/strong> Wolff maintained confidence in the development while acknowledging that the team needed to examine its data and establish why the expected performance was missing at this circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSomething else is going on. And we have to understand,\u201d Wolff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe just need to understand why not here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The distinction matters: Wolff described a disappointing result and unexplained behaviour, rather than announcing that Mercedes would abandon the upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Antonelli and Russell gain places for Sunday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hadjar\u2019s five-place penalty provisionally promotes <strong>Antonelli to third and Russell to seventh<\/strong>. That leaves the championship leader on the second row, behind Verstappen and Hamilton, while Russell starts alongside the penalised Red Bull driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The complete changes are detailed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/sepang-f1-starting-grid-how-hadjar-colapinto-and-lindblad-penalties-change-the-order\/\">projected Sepang starting grid after the three penalties<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wolff remained uncertain about Sunday\u2019s performance. The team must now determine whether its qualifying difficulties will carry into a race in which heat and tyre management are already major concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 continues this weekend, from 2\u20134 October, in Malaysia, which hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix. <strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> will cover all the action at Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"F1 2026, BAHREIN, MAL\u00c1SIA, CLASSIFICA\u00c7\u00c3O, MERCEDES, GEORGE RUSSELL\" class=\"wp-image-1020316883\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f1-2026-bahrein-malasia-treinos-livres-mercedes-george-russell-01-150x100.jpeg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">George Russell (Photo: Mercedes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">F1 today: FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why did F1 cars lose power before the Bahrain GP in Malaysia?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FIA identified a combination of low engine speed, low grip, wet-weather energy management settings and Sepang\u2019s sector configuration. It distributed a software update before the race and announced a full review with teams and power unit manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can Kimi Antonelli win the F1 championship in Singapore?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. Antonelli leads George Russell by <strong>84 points<\/strong>, but even a Singapore Sprint and Grand Prix double would not secure the title. <strong>Austin on 25 October is his earliest possible opportunity<\/strong>, depending on his results and those of the remaining contenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When is the next F1 race, and is Singapore a Sprint weekend?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next race is the <strong>Singapore Grand Prix on 11 October<\/strong>, with track activity beginning on Friday, 9 October. It is a <strong>Sprint weekend<\/strong>: Sprint qualifying takes place on Friday, followed by the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wolff says Mercedes is losing time on the straights and struggling with low-speed understeer, but maintains that the team still believes in its upgrade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020315339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Toto Wolff","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Mercedes","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":31,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[630,689,16,116],"42wp_author":[31],"class_list":["post-3319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-bahrain-grand-prix-in-malaysia","tag-f1-upgrades","tag-mercedes","tag-toto-wolff","42wp_author-bernardo-castro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3320,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3319\/revisions\/3320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020315339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3319"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=3319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}