Mercedes to rerun latest package in Austin for more data
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 16, 2026
Mercedes upgrade test
Mercedes will run its latest car package again at the United States Grand Prix in Austin to collect more data and decide what comes next for development. The move follows a mixed response to the team’s recent upgrade work and gives the team another chance to measure how the package behaves over a full weekend. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the Singapore Grand Prix upgrade pointed the team in the right direction, but he also said the team still needed to understand the package’s full potential because that would help shape development for its 2027 car. The team introduced a new floor and bodywork package at Sepang, but it did not deliver the improvement Mercedes expected. That led the team to run two different car specifications in Singapore and compare the old and new parts in back-to-back setups. Wolff said the car also required a different setup philosophy and had not yet produced the level of performance Mercedes wanted. The Austin plan now gives Mercedes another benchmark as it keeps working through the upgrade and looks for a clearer read on where the car stands.
Mercedes setup split
Mercedes used Singapore as a live comparison test, and the team came away with a clearer picture of how the package behaves under race-weekend pressure. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord said the team wanted real-world data from the comparison and needed to study behaviors that did not match its simulations. Deputy technical director Simone Resta said the new package increased downforce, but not evenly enough across the car. That inconsistency hurt balance, and Resta said the team had to recenter the operating window during a sprint weekend with limited running. Mercedes also changed its approach between the two drivers. Kimi Antonelli ran the newer package in Singapore, while the team switched George Russell back to the previous F1 car specification for the weekend. Mercedes tested a new front wing on Antonelli’s car in first practice before reverting. The split gave the team a direct look at how the two versions behaved in the same event, with Russell quicker in the early Sprint sessions and Antonelli faster in qualifying. Antonelli finished third in Singapore, while Russell took ninth. The result gave Mercedes a finish from both ends of the points picture, but the larger value came from the comparison work the team built into the weekend.
Mercedes Austin plan
Mercedes heads to Austin with a simple goal, gather more evidence on the latest package and use it to settle the next step in the car’s development. The team’s willingness to run the newer specification on both cars suggests it wants a cleaner comparison than the split approach used in Singapore. That should help the engineers see whether the floor and bodywork update can deliver more once the setup work catches up with the new parts. Wolff’s comments show why the team is staying patient. He framed the upgrade as a positive move, but also tied its long-term value to Mercedes’ broader development path. Lord’s and Resta’s comments point in the same direction. The team has speed gains in some areas, but it still needs the package to work consistently across the car and to fit the setup direction Mercedes wants. Karun Chandhok also said the team should be concerned after the latest aerodynamic upgrade failed to deliver a major performance gain. That view fits the picture from Singapore, where Mercedes got useful data but did not unlock the clear step forward it wanted. Austin now becomes the next test of whether the package can do more with another run and more track time.
