Mercedes resisting 'temptation' in bid to defeat major F1 rivals

Mercedes is resisting the "temptation" and staying "disciplined" by not bringing F1 upgrades in the remainder of 2025 to ensure it is as strong as possible to start the new 2026 era.

Since the summer break, the team has only brought one big upgrade package, at the Italian Grand Prix, with further small tweaks arriving from Brackley over the races since, but not on the same scale.

The overwhelming factor for this is that teams are trying to juggle the finishing positions in the 2025 championship against taking away resources and development time for the all-new breed of machines being adopted in 2026.

Currently, with three rounds remaining, Mercedes finds itself in second place in the constructors', 32 points ahead of Red Bull and 36 clear of Ferrari, with tens of millions of dollars in prize money at stake for finishing runners-up to McLaren compared to in fourth. 

Explaining the tricky balancing act the team was handling, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained how being "disciplined" to resist "temptation" was key in ensuring the team is ready to fully attack the new regulations. 

"At the track, we're completely focused on fighting for second in the constructors' championship," Shovlin told media, including RacingNews365. 

"We have been all along, as a team, really disciplined in saying we can't put resources back into this year in order to try and bring a late update to make our lives a bit easier.

"Because ultimately, when you start with a new set of regulations, starting on the front foot is absolutely key, and where we've won championships, that's what we've done. 

"If you look back to the most recent regulations in 2022, we started on the back foot and it's been difficult from there onwards, so we were never going to give in to temptation and put the [current] car back in [development].

"Everyone at the track, the drivers, are all focused on delivering, and if you look at Red Bull, I mean, okay, they had a relatively recent upgrade with the floor, but by and large, the teams that we would expect to be fighting with have done similar and put a lot of resource into next year."