Mercedes ended Friday practice at Sepang with work to do after tire overheating and degradation limited George Russell and Kimi Antonelli during the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia weekend.
Russell finished seventh and Antonelli eighth in second practice after both made mistakes on their soft-tire laps. The errors clouded the picture over one-lap pace, but Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord still called it one of the team's toughest Fridays of the season.
Mercedes falls back in FP2
Russell had opened the weekend by taking second in first practice, 0.383 seconds behind Max Verstappen's benchmark of 1:37.520. Antonelli was fifth, 1.060 seconds off Verstappen.
The order changed in FP2, when Charles Leclerc led Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris. Russell and Antonelli dropped to seventh and eighth as neither completed a representative lap on the soft compound.
Russell ran wide at the final corner after setting competitive sector times. He missed the route inside the bollard and had to abort the lap by going through the pit lane. Antonelli also went wide at the final corner, losing his soft-tire time for exceeding track limits.
Tire behavior creates the main concern
Mercedes' position in the FP2 classification was affected by those mistakes, but the team's tire performance also required attention. Russell reported heavy overheating and degradation, while an exchange with his engineer during FP1 indicated that Mercedes' soft-tire wear was higher than Red Bull's.
“But yeah, with these conditions, tyre [degradation] is huge for everybody. And the cars are operating in a very different window. So, I think as a team, we just haven't got the car quite where we need it to be. We need to make some set-up adjustments, because we're a bit off the pace.”
Russell said Verstappen appeared quick, while McLaren's race pace also stood out. He nevertheless declined to dismiss Mercedes' prospects of fighting for pole.
Upgrade assessment remains incomplete
Mercedes introduced an upgrade package at Sepang that included revisions to the floor edge, sidepods and rear diffuser. Russell said he could feel additional downforce in some corners, but the tire difficulties made its overall effect hard to assess.
“I'm feeling the [extra] downforce in some of the corners, but with this amount of tyre overheating and tyre degradation, that kind of trumps everything,” Russell said. He described the immediate problem as a set-up issue rather than one caused by the upgrade.
Lord said the drivers had provided positive feedback about the package, particularly the added downforce in high-speed corners. Mercedes completed 56 laps between its two cars in FP2, giving the team data to examine before qualifying.
Mercedes cannot revert this weekend
Lord said Mercedes has no opportunity to return to its previous specification during the Sepang weekend. Its focus will therefore be on finding a set-up that better suits the revised car.
“Equally, we haven't got any opportunity to revert on the update here this weekend, so you know we've got what we've got and we need to make the most of it.”
He compared Mercedes' position to its more difficult Hungary weekend rather than its form in Azerbaijan, where Russell won the preceding Grand Prix. Mercedes had won 11 of the opening 15 races of the 2026 season, with Antonelli taking eight victories and Russell three.
Qualifying pace remains unclear
Verstappen led FP1 and, according to Lord, appeared to set the standard on the longer runs across the two sessions. Lord said the field behind Verstappen looked closely matched and believed Mercedes remained part of that group.
Mercedes will now use its Friday data to address tire temperatures and determine the best set-up for the upgrade package before qualifying. Clean soft-tire laps from Russell and Antonelli will provide the next clearer measure of whether the team can recover from its difficult start at Sepang.
