Mercedes reacts to pole drought: Major upgrade announced for Malaysia

– Mercedes has confirmed that the next major vehicle update will be used at the upcoming Formula 1 race in Malaysia. There, they hope to be able to compete again for pole position.

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The Silver Arrows are the clear leaders of the 2026 World Championship and lead the second-placed team Ferrari by 145 points. And that, even though the last major upgrade package was already brought in May in Montreal.

Instead, Mercedes preferred to bring smaller, track-specific updates, while the next challengers Ferrari and McLaren were much more aggressive in development.

No Silver Arrow on pole position since Spa

Mercedes had won the first six Grands Prix of the season. Since then, the team has only won four of the last eight races, as McLaren and Ferrari were able to reduce their deficit and each celebrated two wins during this period.

However, the team now hopes to restore its dominance at the race weekend in Sepang (October 2 to 4), where the Bahrain Grand Prix is being held as a substitute.

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In the latest edition of the Silver Arrows Radio Show podcast, Andrew Shovlin, Chief Engineer at the track, explained: “After Baku, we are not bringing much new, but that is a track where aerodynamic drag matters more than downforce anyway.”

Why the upgrade is not coming in Baku

“The car was good in Monza, hopefully it will also work well in Baku. But you need a car with a good top speed on the straights.”

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“But in Baku, there are other things you need, like the character of a street circuit – almost like in Monaco, where you have to cope with low speeds and keep all four wheels on the ground.”

“And as for the updates: They will come from Malaysia, and hopefully we will make a decent step forward with them.”

“I don’t think we will be miles ahead, but hopefully we will be back in a position where we can really go into qualifying with the knowledge to fight for pole.”

Although Mercedes won the last two races in Monza and Madrid with the dominant Kimi Antonelli, the team has not achieved a pole position since Spa in July.

That means a streak of four races without pole – three of which were secured by McLaren driver Lando Norris. That is a very different picture than at the beginning of 2026, when the Silver Arrows started from first place in all the first ten race weekends.

“At the start of the season, we mostly went to the track thinking: If we do a really good job, this car should be on pole,” Shovlin added.

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