Shovlin: We can't keep making last-minute changes to the W16.

      The Mercedes team continues the fight for second place in the Constructors' Championship, and in São Paulo was able to pull away from rivals Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. Chief engineer Andrew Shovlin said that in the current situation there was a temptation to continue developing the W16 to increase the chances of finishing the season successfully, but the team chose not to do so in order not to sacrifice preparation for 2026.

      Andrew Shovlin: “On track we are fully focused on fighting for second place in the Constructors' Championship. But the team has always been very disciplined and has said that we cannot afford to spend resources and keep bringing car updates until the very end to make things a little easier for ourselves.

      In the transition to a new regulations package it is critically important to be in a leading position. That's how we've won titles. If you recall the last regulatory changes in 2022, we then found ourselves on the back foot, which made the task much harder. That's why we didn't give in to temptation this time and did not resume development of the current car.

      On track everyone is focused on achieving results. Red Bull recently introduced an updated floor, but overall the teams we're competing with have followed our example and invested a lot of resources in preparing for next year.”