Toto Wolff Admits Mercedes Car Has Gone Backwards at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Mercedes arrived at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on a run of three straight race victories, carrying a major upgrade package that was expected to strengthen its 2026 advantage.
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After qualifying at Sepang on Saturday, team principal Toto Wolff admitted the new parts appeared to have made the car slower, not faster. For a team that has dominated much of the season, it was an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position.
Verstappen Takes Pole as Mercedes Slips Back
Max Verstappen secured his first pole position of the season for Red Bull, a result that underlined how sharply the competitive picture shifted over the weekend. Kimi Antonelli, the drivers’ championship leader, qualified fourth for Mercedes, while George Russell could only manage eighth in the second car.
Wolff told Sky Sports it was the first time this season Mercedes had missed out on the top three by such a margin.
The context makes the result harder to read. The Bahrain Grand Prix is being staged at Sepang because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which means teams arrived with limited recent data on the circuit.
Extreme heat and a rough surface add further variables that can reshuffle the order from one session to the next.
Wolff: Expected Three Tenths Forward, Found Four or Five Backwards
The upgrade was Mercedes’ first major package since May and only its second significant development step of 2026, far fewer than its rivals have brought.
It included a new floor, sidepods and bargeboards, and the team had predicted a gain of around three tenths of a second per lap. Antonelli had confirmed that figure before the weekend.
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Speaking to Sky Sports after qualifying, Wolff said the outcome was the opposite of the forecast, describing the car as three, four or five tenths slower than hoped.
“Something else is going on, and we have to understand,” he said. He added that Mercedes still believes the upgrade works and now needs to work out why it did not deliver in Malaysia.
Drag and Understeer Identified as the Main Problems
Wolff pointed to two specific symptoms. The first was straight-line speed, with Mercedes losing time to Verstappen on Sepang’s long straights for the first time this season.
The second was understeer in slow corners, particularly Turn 2, where the drivers struggled to rotate the car. Wolff said these were characteristics the team had not seen all year.
The warning signs appeared on Friday, when Mercedes reported significant tyre degradation. Russell, whose comments were reported by Reuters, pointed to the rough, broken-up track surface and extreme heat, saying the conditions were affecting Mercedes “far more than others.”
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Russell indicated that the team’s numbers suggested the upgrade was an improvement even though the lap times said otherwise. That gap between simulation and stopwatch is the central puzzle Mercedes now faces.
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Antonelli cautioned against judging the new parts too quickly, suggesting that the window in which the car operates best may have shifted completely, and that the team must find out why as soon as possible.
He also praised the work the team had done to bring the package.
Analysis: What Sepang Does and Does Not Prove
One qualifying session is a narrow basis for judging a development package. Sepang combines heat, an abrasive surface and little recent Formula 1 data, so it is possible that the track exaggerated a weakness rather than created one.
Wolff’s own wording, that the team needs to understand why the upgrade did not work “here,” points in that direction.
Teams normally develop parts using simulation tools and then compare the results with track data. When the numbers predict a gain and the stopwatch shows a loss, as Russell described, the first question is usually whether the conditions have pushed the car outside the range those tools were built around.
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Mercedes has not confirmed that explanation, and Wolff’s comment that something else is going on suggests the team does not yet have a definitive answer.
The result also highlights the risk of Mercedes’ development approach. Bringing fewer, larger upgrades means each package carries more weight, and when one underperforms there is little room to recover quickly. Rivals who bring more frequent updates can adjust course sooner.
The real test will come at the next circuit. A return to normal form would point to a track-specific problem, while continued struggles would raise harder questions about the package itself.
Race Outlook
Wolff did not sound optimistic about Sunday, with tyre behaviour in the heat a major unknown. Mercedes still leads the constructors’ championship comfortably, and Antonelli heads the drivers’ standings after three wins and two further podiums in the previous six races.
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But after a season of dominance, Sepang has handed the team a problem it must explain quickly, and the answer will shape how the rest of the championship unfolds.
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