The Mercedes Formula 1 team has hit a major hurdle ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix as it won’t be able to run its planned upgrades on both cars following George Russell’s heavy crash during qualifying at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. The crash, which occurred at the penultimate corner during Saturday’s session, caused extensive damage to Russell’s car, forcing the team to switch specifications and work through the night to get the car ready for the race, resulting in a pit lane start.
Team principal Toto Wolff confirmed that the damage to the car was so severe that there aren’t enough spare parts to allow both Russell and his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, to run the upgraded package this weekend in Mexico.
“No, we won’t have the upgrade on George’s car,” Wolff said. “We will be missing the floor that needs to go back to the UK for repairs, and it won’t be ready until Brazil. So we’ll be running the older specification on his car.”
Wolff also revealed uncertainty around whether Hamilton will stick with the new upgrade, despite the team having enough parts for his car. The seven-time world champion expressed concerns after spinning off at the same corner where Russell crashed, suggesting that the car’s handling was a challenge.
“On Lewis’s side, we normally would have all the parts, but I’m not 100% sure that he’s keen on running that,” Wolff added. “So we’ve got to find out how we want to tackle this weekend.”
Despite the struggles, Wolff insists the new upgrade is not a fundamental problem, attributing the team’s fluctuating performance to a combination of factors.
“I don’t think we have a fundamental issue with the upgrade,” Wolff explained. “It’s more about the interaction between aero and mechanical elements. We’re going to continue with the upgrade because there’s a lot of lap time to be gained, but we need to remain open-minded and figure out why our performance changes so dramatically.”
In Austin, Mercedes faced a series of unpredictable issues, including a broken suspension in the sprint race and Lewis Hamilton’s sudden incident during the main race. Wolff emphasized that the team is still trying to understand why the car’s performance varies so significantly between sessions.
“We’ve had moments where we looked extremely competitive, like on Friday in Austin, where we were four-tenths up, but by Saturday things changed completely. It’s these inconsistencies we need to get on top of,” Wolff said.
Adding to the weekend’s developments, Mercedes has confirmed that Kimi Antonelli, who will race full-time for the team in 2025, will take part in FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix, alongside fellow rookies Ollie Bearman for Ferrari and Pato O’Ward for McLaren.
With Mercedes locked in a fight for consistency and performance, the team heads into Mexico City hoping to mitigate the impact of Russell’s crash while attempting to unlock the potential of its unpredictable car as the season enters its final phase.
