Toto Wolff and Co. brought a significant upgrade for the Mercedes W17 at the 2026 Bahrain GP at the Sepang International Circuit. However, both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell failed to make it to the front row in qualifying. Wolff then came out and bashed the upgrades, claiming they made the W17 slower.
Mercedes dominated last weekend’s Azerbaijan GP, where George Russell took the pole position, led every lap and won the race, while Kimi Antonelli, who started P16, was able to recover to P5.
Going into the Bahrain GP, Mercedes brought the much-awaited upgrade and were expected to gain somewhere around three tenths in performance. However, the qualifying results suggested otherwise as Antonelli and Russell ended the session P4 and P8 respectively.
The Mercedes duo lost heaps of time in comparison to the Red Bull on the two straights at Sepang International Circuit. Toto Wolff came out after the qualifying session and blasted the upgrades, explaining how they made the car draggy, while not adding any significant performance into the corners.
Speaking with Sky after the race, Toto Wolff said,
“It looks like we are very draggy because it’s the first time that we’re losing a lot of time on the straights, especially to Max. And then through the low speed, in Turn 2, we are not able to turn the car; there’s just too much understeer. Overall, it’s things we haven’t seen all year.”
“It’s incredibly disappointing. It went in exactly the wrong direction. We upgraded the car, which was supposed to be a few tenths faster. In the end, we’ve probably become a few tenths slower,” Toto Wolff told Sky (via F1-Insider)
Kimi Antonelli was five tenths slower than Verstappen’s pole position lap time while George Russell was over seven tenths slower.
Toto Wolff on Mercedes needing to “understand” the lack of performance from upgrades
The hot temperatures at the Sepang International Circuit created a situation where the team prioritized setups towards the race pace, tire conservation and balance. However, what is undeniable is that Mercedes lacked the straight-line performance.
Toto Wolff, speaking with Sky after qualifying, suggested that Mercedes needed to analyze the data and understand why the upgrade didn’t work.
“Something else is going on, and we have to understand. This is now working through the data and putting our heads together because we still believe that the upgrade works. We just need to understand why not here,” said Wolff
Lewis Hamilton will start in P2 alongside Max Verstappen. Kimi Antonelli, after qualifying P4, will start in P3 as Isack Hadjar takes the grid penalty.
Read More: 2026 F1 Bahrain GP In Malaysia Qualifying: Key Takeaways
