Antonelli says Mercedes cannot determine if their major upgrade package made the car faster or slower in Malaysia.

Kimi Antonelli admitted Mercedes does not know whether their long-awaited upgrade package introduced at Malaysia improved or worsened their performance. The championship leader led the opening stages of the race ahead of teammate George Russell but both were overtaken by Max Verstappen, who went on to win.

Mercedes originally planned to introduce the new parts at Singapore but brought the upgrade forward after Formula 1 added Malaysia to replace the cancelled Bahrain event. However, the unusually abrasive track surface at Sepang complicated the team's efforts to understand the performance of the upgraded W17 car.

Antonelli qualified half a second slower than Verstappen and pointed out Mercedes has struggled at tracks with similar characteristics to Sepang. He noted that whenever they raced on really old tarmac like Zandvoort, McLaren was much quicker, suggesting the rough Malaysian surface may have masked the upgrade's true potential.

The team expects to have clearer answers before Singapore after analyzing extensive data from the Malaysian weekend. Antonelli expressed confidence that Mercedes will arrive with a much better understanding of the package and hopefully extract its full potential at the next race.