World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli expressed doubts about the effectiveness of Mercedes' recent upgrades following a challenging Sprint Qualifying session in Singapore. He described his car as "very difficult" to drive, indicating ongoing struggles with the new package.

The upgrades, which debuted at the previous weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, failed to yield the expected performance improvements. In Singapore, Antonelli utilized the latest version of the car, featuring a new front wing not seen in Malaysia, while teammate George Russell opted for the pre-Malaysia version, which had previously secured him victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The results from the qualifying session raised concerns for Mercedes, with Russell finishing second to Max Verstappen and Antonelli lagging behind in seventh, over half a second slower than his teammate.

Antonelli remarked:

Yes and no, to be fair. Already in FP1 I was struggling. The car is very difficult, very unpredictable, and very difficult to put a lap together.

Despite leading the drivers' and constructors' standings, Antonelli acknowledged the need for clarity in the team's future development strategy, warning that the weekend could be challenging unless significant improvements were made.

Team principal Toto Wolff hinted that Mercedes might reconsider their approach to upgrades, suggesting smaller incremental changes in the future could be more effective. He stated, "It's just quite difficult to dial yourself out and understand why it hasn't worked."

Russell also noted that while the old version of the car performed adequately, the stopwatch results had yet to reflect the upgrades' potential. The team remains hopeful as they head into the remainder of the weekend's events.