Toto Wolff: “There’s a lot at stake”, upgrade decision made

Championship leaders Mercedes struggled at the last two race weekends in Sepang and Singapore. The Silver Arrows had brought a major upgrade package with them to Malaysia. However, this had not worked as hoped. In response, the team split the cars in Singapore: George Russell drove the older version of the car, whilst Kimi Antonelli retained the upgrade. A decision has now been made on how to proceed in Austin.

Mercedes to fit updates to both cars in Austin

Team principal Toto Wolff said: “The weekends in Malaysia and Singapore were difficult for us. We’ve worked hard to identify our weaknesses. In Austin, we now have the opportunity to respond to them. We will be deploying our latest update package on both cars whilst continuing to drive forward the car’s development. The field is incredibly close, so we need to keep improving if we want to consistently compete at the front in the final stages of the season.”

Mercedes leads both world championships. Kimi Antonelli could clinch his world title in Austin. However, it is not very likely that he will manage it in the US. For that to happen, Antonelli would need to win whilst George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) have poor races. Mercedes has, however, lost points and ground in recent races.

Wolff: “The United States Grand Prix marks the start of another challenging triple-header. There’s a lot at stake, but we don’t want to rush things. Our priority is the upcoming weekend: we want to execute our work as well as possible, maximise our performance and take each race as it comes.”

Mercedes fährt in Austin mit Sonderlackierung

Foto: Mercedes F1 Team

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