Mercedes US GP upgrades will run on both cars in Austin, the team has confirmed, ending a two-race split in which only Kimi Antonelli carried the new aerodynamic package. George Russell will join him on the latest specification at the United States Grand Prix.
The call closes a comparison test that began in Singapore, where Russell reverted to the pre-Sepang version while also carrying a grid penalty into the main race. Fielding one car on each specification gave Mercedes a direct read on a package whose debut on Formula 1's return to Malaysia earlier this month had been problematic.
Mercedes US GP upgrades follow a split test
Antonelli's Singapore weekend started on the back foot relative to his team-mate, but his competitiveness improved as the event progressed and he finished third. That curve, rather than any single lap, appears to have settled the argument inside the garage.
Team principal Toto Wolff had already hinted after Singapore that Mercedes were leaning towards running both cars on the new specification in Austin. The team's event preview turned that hint into a plan.
"Malaysia and Singapore were difficult weekends for us and we have worked hard to understand where we fell short," said Wolff. "Austin gives us an opportunity to respond. We will run our latest update package on both cars as we continue to develop the car."
Wolff added that the field is "incredibly close", which is the practical reason the upgrade matters. A package that adds load without widening the usable set-up window is an expensive way to stand still, and Mercedes spent two weekends measuring exactly that.
Red Bull's wins and the title arithmetic
Mercedes did not challenge for victory in either Malaysia or Singapore, with Max Verstappen taking back-to-back wins for a resurgent Red Bull. The Silver Arrows nonetheless remain firmly on course for a championship double with six rounds of the season left.
Antonelli can clinch his maiden Drivers' Championship as early as this Sunday. The combination required is specific: he wins, Russell fails to finish in the top eight, and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton is not in the top four.
Mercedes' 134-point lead over Ferrari at the top of the Constructors' Championship means the team could be in a title-winning position for that title as early as next week's Mexico City Grand Prix.
What a shared specification changes in Austin
Running identical machinery removes the last excuse and the last alibi. Austin will show whether the new package is genuinely quicker over a stint or merely quicker in a window that only one driver could find.
Russell, without the grid penalty that shaped his Singapore weekend, becomes a cleaner reference point for the comparison. His qualifying and race pace on the same specification as Antonelli is the most useful data Mercedes will generate before the triple-header closes.
Wolff was careful not to look past the weekend. "The United States Grand Prix begins another demanding triple-header," he said. "There is plenty at stake, but we won't get ahead of ourselves. The priority is the weekend in front of us: execute well, maximise our performance and take each race as it comes."
The W17 runs a revised livery in Austin
Mercedes will run a revised livery for the second time in three races, with blue added to the W17s to highlight the car company's MANUFAKTUR personalisation programme. It is a commercial change rather than a performance one, but it will make the two cars easier to tell apart on the timing screens.
The original report on Mercedes' confirmation of both drivers running the latest specification, and Wolff's comments, comes from skysports.com.
