Wolff acknowledges that the latest upgrade "ruined" the car.

      "We reached the decision that the update needed to be discarded."

      With George Russell and Kimi Antonelli essentially confirmed for 2026, there was a palpable sense of relief within the Mercedes team following a significant improvement at the Hungarian GP. Russell, who achieved another impressive finish in Budapest after a recent downturn in team performance, remained composed when asked about his potential new contract. "Honestly, I’m heading straight on vacation tonight," he smiled. "I’m taking ten days off."

      Behind the scenes, the team is gearing up to move forward with both drivers, a development that will particularly relieve Antonelli, who has faced a challenging rookie season. The 18-year-old was in tears at Spa after struggling for weeks with a new rear suspension design introduced at Imola. At the Hungaroring, Mercedes reverted to the earlier layout, and both speed and confidence returned swiftly.

      "It shouldn’t happen that an upgrade ruins the car like this," team principal Toto Wolff admitted. "Ultimately, we concluded that the update had to be discarded - now the car is back to a solid condition." Wolff stated that the suspension design introduced at Imola will now "be thrown away."

      "With all the smart minds, all the simulations, the infrastructure we possess, it led us to a fundamentally flawed car architecture. We aimed to resolve one issue, but it exacerbated another significantly. We’ve now rectified all of that."

      "We were also misled by the mindset that 'maybe it’s not so bad after all,'" he added.

      With this newfound clarity, Mercedes has redirected its full attention to the 2026 project. "Everything is aimed at next year," said Wolff. "Now we realize we have a more stable foundation."