Mercedes ‘out of sync’ on upgrades against rivals

Mercedes is “out of sync” with its upgrades and will look to regain its advantage over the field after the Miami Grand Prix, says team principal Toto Wolff.

A dominant start to the season came to an end across the Sprint in Miami, with Mercedes failing to lock out the front row in a qualifying session for the first time, and then failing to have a car in the top three in a race as McLaren secured a one-two finish. Charles Leclerc finished third and had the pace to pull away from Mercedes, too, but Wolff says a slow start for Kimi Antonelli makes the turnaround in form look bigger than it is in reality.

“We know that we are a little out of sync with our upgrades compared to other teams,” Wolff said. “We were hoping we were going to be able to hold on to our advantage, and in terms of pure lap times, we were close to the pace at the front in the Sprint.

“But if you have a bad getaway – which wasn't at all Kimi's fault but was an issue on our side – it is going to be difficult to fight back. This season is going to be a pure development race and whoever brings a few tenths before their competitors will gain an advantage.”

Antonelli started second and crossed the line fourth but was demoted to sixth by a time penalty for exceeding tack limits, promoting George Russell and Max Verstappen. The Italian was frustrated by his slow getaway, but felt the performance of the car in race trim was still encouraging.

“The start, to be fair, on procedure was all good,” Antonelli said. “So we need to check what happened, because the drop was good and on my side, for once I did everything right! So it was a shame to, again, have a really bad start, because then it just compromised the race.

“To be fair, we're struggling a little bit this weekend, but the pace was not too bad at the end. Difficult out there, but we'll focus on the qualifying now.”

Mercedes has brought the first few components of its planned upgrade package to Miami, with the majority scheduled to be introduced at the next race in Montreal later in the month.