New updates confirmed at Mercedes in Austin

The teams are already preparing for the return. After the Singapore leg, Formula 1 will take a four-week break before the next event in Austin. This break will allow the teams to prepare before embarking on two series of three consecutive races, including three sprint weekends. For Mercedes, this break comes at the right time. It will allow for analysis and resolution of recent issues, especially the high temperatures experienced by the drivers in Monza and Baku, which have impacted performances since the resumption after the summer break.

Essential news to find the victory again

After a difficult start to the season – where it took until the ninth race to step onto the podium – Mercedes then shone, successively winning the Austrian, British, and Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break. Three victories in four races that had given hope back to the Brackley team for the second half of the season. However, since then, Mercedes has not found the path to victory, partly due to a new floor used at Zandvoort and Monza, which made the car more difficult to drive and set up.

During the last two Grand Prix races, the team led by Toto Wolff reverted to its old floor, hoping that the updates were the source of the difficulties. However, in Baku and Singapore, the Mercedes did not fight for the top positions. George Russell took advantage of the incident between Sainz and Pérez to step onto the podium in Baku, and of the poor qualifying sessions of Ferrari and Pérez to finish fourth in Singapore.

On his side, Lewis Hamilton experienced two challenging rounds: penalized for an engine change in Baku, where he had qualified seventh, he had to start from the pit lane. In Singapore, a failed strategy pushed him back to sixth place. Andrew Shovlin, head of track engineering at Mercedes, discussed Hamilton’s penalty in Azerbaijan and supported this decision, explaining that it was impossible to do the same in Singapore, especially as Mercedes plans significant improvements in Austin.

Toto Wolff also stressed that the new floor did not satisfy the drivers and that another, more efficient version will be introduced for the next Grand Prix. In Singapore, we had to race with the same floor, as it was what we had at hand. But from Austin, we will probably switch to a newer specification, the Austrian said after Baku. Thanks to this break, Mercedes will be able to optimize this appendix to make the car faster and more enjoyable to drive.

Mercedes’ technical director, James Allison, explained that these weeks are crucial for the team, with many new developments planned to solve the problems that have been persistent for some time. We will try to understand how to mitigate the problems encountered this weekend, particularly tire management on circuits where they overheat. We also have a substantial update coming to Austin, which hopefully will allow us to have a good weekend there.

A consistency to be found for Mercedes.

The Briton also reflected on the Singapore weekend, praising the team’s work while pointing out a lack of consistency that will need to be corrected with the upcoming developments. « I think Sunday’s result was tough for the team, and the difficulties were already predictable from Friday. The anomaly was on Saturday, where we managed to secure a rather respectable position on the grid despite a challenging start to the weekend. »

Although Mercedes is not playing for the titles this season, ambitious goals are still on the agenda. As Andrew Shovlin explains: « We always try to bring performance to each race. Right now, our main goal is to bring a significant package to Austin. Then we will approach the last six races of the year with other smaller upgrades. »

In a season where the gaps are tight, every tenth gained will be crucial for Mercedes, who is relying on the last Grand Prix races to return to the top. And why not, offer one last victory to Lewis Hamilton before his departure to Ferrari in 2025.