Formula 1’s Asian triple-header has gone particularly well for Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver finished 0.196 seconds behind Russell in Baku before going on to claim convincing victories in Malaysia and Singapore.
On both sides of the equation – at Red Bull and Mercedes – this is linked to major upgrades introduced during the recent triple-header. Red Bull brought its final major package for the RB22 to Baku and immediately made a significant step forward.
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Who slept best last night: Max VerstappenAt Mercedes, the reality has proved more complicated. The Silver Arrows introduced their long-awaited upgrade for the W17 in Malaysia, but it did not immediately provide the answers they were looking for – partly because of the unusual characteristics of the Sepang International Circuit, with its extremely rough tarmac.
In Singapore, Russell ran the old spec while Antonelli used the new one to gather comparative data and find answers. The preliminary conclusion is that the upgrade does indeed offer greater potential, but the operating window in which that potential can be unlocked is extremely narrow.
"The numbers say it's performing as we expect, but obviously the lap times haven't been that great. So we need to try and understand how to make that work", Russell said after the race.
During his recovery drive to ninth place, Russell was once again unfortunate with the timing of the virtual safety car – which he was unable to take full advantage of, unlike Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. But according to the Briton, Mercedes has more important challenges on its hands: catching Red Bull, which he believes has now become the new benchmark.
"Yeah, I mean, 5, 10 or 20 seconds more; it would have helped the picture, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over that", Russell said when asked by Motorsport.com about the unfortunate VSC timing.
"I think the main thing for us as a team is to try and understand how we're going to find more performance, because the performance of Red Bull has been very impressive for the last three weeks on three very different circuits. Right now they are the team to beat."
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
When Motorsport.com subsequently put those comments to Antonelli and asked whether the championship leader also regarded Red Bull as the new benchmark, he stressed that the situation was closely linked to Mercedes' own learning process with the upgrade.
"I think it’s probably mostly us not extracting the maximum out of the new package. Of course, Red Bull has done an incredible step forward, and Max has probably been more comfortable with the car and just extracting more out of it. So, it's a combination of things. For sure, they've done a good step forward."
That said, Mercedes is not yet achieving the performance gains on-track that its simulations and wind tunnel suggest the upgrade can deliver, Antonelli revealed.
"On our side, we're just trying to understand how to extract more potential out of it because we do see the gains, we do see what it could bring.
"It's just that the window is very small at the moment, the window in which the car operates. It is very sensitive to the way you drive it, the way you take a corner, the way you brake. It reacts very differently."
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Both the team – when looking for the right set-up – and the driver still need to adapt to this, which is why Antonelli is looking forward to the first conventional race weekend at a familiar track: the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, where Antonelli could theoretically already clinch the title.
"In Austin, we have three free practices, so we can be very open-minded with the set-up. Hopefully we can find a way and we can use the full potential of the package and finally see the gains."
Because those gains have yet to materialise on track, the picture from recent weeks may be somewhat misleading. Yes, Red Bull has undeniably made a huge step forward, but Mercedes should have more performance in reserve than it has shown over the past two weeks.
Nevertheless, Antonelli is pleased with the progress made in Singapore in understanding the upgrade, particularly given the many question marks that remained after Malaysia.
"I think the team did an incredible job this weekend putting the car in a better place and allowing me to get the confidence. And now it's a starting point to keep working and keep extracting the potential."
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