梅赛德斯称缺乏资金升级2026赛车，难追迈凯伦开发步伐
梅赛德斯表示因资金不足，无法通过紧急升级回应迈凯伦的强势复苏，难以跟上对手的开发速度。迈凯伦在匈牙利和荷兰大奖赛分两阶段引入的升级效果显著，兰多·诺里斯在荷兰大奖赛凭借节奏和更好的轮胎管理超越起步领先安东内利，取得赛季两连胜。
梅赛德斯表示，无法通过紧急升级来应对迈凯伦在F1中的强势复苏，因为他们没有“钱”在赛车上投入额外的研发。
上周日的荷兰大奖赛中，兰多·诺里斯为迈凯伦取得了本赛季连续第二场胜利，他的速度和更出色的轮胎管理让他得以超越比赛早期的领先者基米·安东内利。
迈凯伦在匈牙利和荷兰两站大奖赛分两阶段实施的重大升级所带来的跨越式进步令梅赛德斯感到意外，并让积分榜领跑者安东内利确信自己的车队已不再拥有最快的赛车。
在这种情况下，车队通常会加快升级的步伐，以帮助梅赛德斯重返领先位置。
然而，车队领队托托·沃尔夫表示，他的车队无法偏离自赛季开始以来所采用的分散部署研发的策略——因为在成本上限的限制下，他们没有余力引入太多升级。
“我们没有钱把研发成果装到赛车上，”他说。
“我以前就说过，我们正努力在整个赛季中均匀分配这些升级，根据我们的计算来判断何时能带来最大的升级，并优化锦标赛积分。我们做不到的事情就是做不到。”
自年初以来，梅赛德斯在研发支出方面一直比竞争对手保守得多。
自加拿大大奖赛以来，该车就没有进行过重大升级，并且在荷兰大奖赛上选择不加入其最接近的竞争对手的行列，不带来任何重要的新部件。
根据国际汽联（FIA）公布的2026年已申报升级项目的官方数据，就引进的升级数量而言，梅赛德斯远远落后。
法拉利引入了40个新部件，红牛和迈凯伦为38个，而梅赛德斯仅引入了24个。
然而，这些基本数字并不能完全反映在研发上花费了多少，因为例如一个新的底板，其成本要远高于一个后视镜罩。
一项加权分析对每个新部件给出成本评级，结果显示红牛在四大领先车队中位居榜首，略高于迈凯伦，法拉利第三，梅赛德斯则落后不少。
目前尚不清楚，为什么梅赛德斯在升级方面如此保守，却没有像其他车队那样拥有额外的研发支出空间。
一种猜测是，梅赛德斯较早地将更多资源投入2026年项目，希望先在积分榜上建立起足够大的优势，从而后期无需在研发上花费太多，同时让对手打消把钱浪费在一场他们无法夺冠的争斗中的念头。
但任何想凭借自身速度扩大优势、让对手无法染指总冠军的希望，都被赛季初的可靠性问题所打断，这些问题让法拉利、以及现在的迈凯伦一直保持在前列。
当The 比赛问及早期的开支是否解释了为什么梅赛德斯似乎不像带来更多升级的其他车队那样具备同等能力时，沃尔夫并不认同这种说法。
“我们在最初的研发阶段是否花费太多？我不这么认为，”他说。
“我只是觉得我们是一个拥有一定规模和基础设施的组织。而且，你知道，在这方面，我们当时有一辆非常快的车。
“由于可靠性问题，我们损失了大约50到100分，否则我们本可以比今天拥有更大的领先优势。
“除此之外，我们只是在继续执行原本的计划，以及财务现实对我们意味着什么。”
梅赛德斯副领队Bradley Lord在夏休期前表示，车队有大量研发潜力正在系统中推进——问题只是这些部件何时被带到赛道上。
“目前有相当可观的性能提升正在生产体系中推进，它们将从夏休结束后的比赛开始陆续应用到赛车上。”
迈凯伦并不认为梅赛德斯在成本上限方面处于被动，并认为对方在实际引进升级件方面拥有比其所暗示的更多自由度。
随着额外成本上限豁免（两笔各300万美元）被加入规则以帮助车队适应2027年及以后的新动力单元规则，这一点尤其正确。
当The 比赛问及沃尔夫关于车队在支出上处于被动局面的言论时，迈凯伦车队领队安德烈亚·斯特拉表示：“我愿意相信你，但实际上我并不相信。我不相信，因为得益于2027年动力单元规则，所有车队在成本上限申报中都将获得一笔额外额度。”
“我确信梅赛德斯在看到对手们有点提升水平之后，现在一定会兑现他们的研发成果。可以肯定的是，这正在实际发生。”
“我确信他们在风洞里的赛车要比现在赛道上的那辆快不少，他们会希望把其中一些潜力转化为应用到真实赛车上的升级。我非常肯定他们会有升级。当然，如果没有那会很好，但我甚至不愿意去想那种情况。”
沃尔夫认为，最终梅赛德斯的成本上限策略只能通过整个赛季来评判——因为可能存在其他车队在赛季后期不得不削减开支，而他的车队还有更多余量的情况。
“你会看到，到了赛季末，他们是否还能像现在这样往赛车上部署那么多部件，”他说。
“也许有人的策略不同，在年初和年中投入更多，而到赛季末投入较少。”
今年早些时候，沃尔夫曾暗示梅赛德斯无法理解马拉内罗车队（法拉利）怎么能为SF-26带来这么多激进的升级，这惹恼了法拉利。
沃尔夫的立场引发了法拉利车队领队弗雷德·瓦塞尔（Fred Vasseur）的尖锐回应。
"我觉得托托和梅赛德斯说这话相当讽刺," 他说。"但红牛在研发或者梅赛德斯在研发的时候，他们就是天才。轮到我们研发的时候，我们就是在作弊。"
让梅赛德斯在选择何时投入升级的问题上更加复杂的是，安东内利将在他的主场意大利大奖赛接受引擎处罚——因此他在那里争夺胜利的机会将受到阻碍。
沃尔夫补充道："从理论上讲，我们的计算表明那是搭载新引擎的最佳赛道。"
“显然，算法不会把国籍考虑在内。但我们来这里是为了争夺冠军，而不是为了获得最多的公关曝光。所以，是的，这就是我们要做的。至于George，如果我们决定采取这个方案，相关的讨论还在进行中。”
英文原文
Mercedes says it can't respond to McLaren’s Formula 1 resurgence with an urgent upgrade because it hasn’t “got the money” to put extra developments on its car.
Lando Norris delivered his second consecutive victory of the season for McLaren in the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday as his pace and better tyre management allowed him to overhaul early race leader Kimi Antonelli.
The major step that a two-stage upgrade from McLaren over the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix unleashed has caught Mercedes by surprise – and left championship leader Antonelli convinced his squad no longer has the fastest car.
Such a scenario would typically trigger a move to fast-track upgrades to help get Mercedes back to the front.
However, team boss Toto Wolff has suggested that his outfit cannot divert from the strategy it has employed since the start of the campaign to spread out its developments – as it does not have the leeway under the cost cap to bring many changes through.
“We haven't got the money to put developments on the car,” he said.
“I said it before, we are trying to evenly split that through the season, based on our calculations of when we can bring the biggest updates and optimising the championship points. We just can't do what we can't do.”
Mercedes has been much less aggressive than its rivals since the start of the year with its development spending.
It has not had a major upgrade since the Canadian Grand Prix and elected against joining its closest rivals in bringing any major new parts to the Dutch Grand Prix.
Based on the official FIA figures for declared upgrades over 2026, Mercedes is well behind when it comes to the number it has brought.
Ferrari has introduced 40 new components, Red Bull and McLaren 38, while Mercedes has introduced just 24.
However, those basic numbers do not tell the full story of how much spending has been done on development, as a new floor, for example, costs a lot more than a mirror shroud.
A weighted analysis giving a cost grade for each new component puts Red Bull at the top of the leading four teams, just ahead of McLaren, with Ferrari third and Mercedes quite a bit adrift.
It is not clear why, after being so conservative with its upgrades, Mercedes does not have the same headroom as other teams for extra development spending.
One theory could be that it invested more into the 2026 project early on in the hope of building up such an advantage in the championship that it did not need to spend much on development later on and rivals were put off wasting money on a title they could not win.
But any hopes of capitalising on its pace and putting the championship out of reach of its rivals were derailed by early-season reliability woes that have kept Ferrari, and now McLaren, in touch.
When asked by The Race about whether early spending explained why Mercedes did not appear to have the same capabilities as other teams who have brought more, Wolff was not convinced.
“Did we spend too much at the beginning in the initial development? I don't think so,” he said.
“I just think we're an organisation that has a certain size and infrastructure. And, you know, in that respect, we had a really quick car.
“We left between 50 and 100 points on the table with reliability issues and that would have given us a little bit more of a gap than we have today.
“Other than that, we're just continuing to execute what the plan was and what the financial realities mean for us.”
Speaking before the summer break, Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said that the squad had plenty of development potential coming through the system – it was just a question of when items were brought to the track.
“There's a decent amount of performance working its way through the production machinery at the moment, that will start coming to the car from the races after shutdown.”
McLaren is not convinced that Mercedes is on the back foot when it comes to cost cap limits, and thinks it has more freedom to bring upgrades than it is suggesting.
This is especially true with an extra cost cap allowance, of two lots of $3 million, that has been added to the regulations aimed at helping teams adjust to the new power unit rules for 2027 and beyond.
Asked by The Race about Wolff’s remarks suggesting it was on the backfoot with spending, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “I would like to believe you, but I actually don't believe you. I don't believe it, because thanks to the 2027 power unit regulations, all teams will have an allowance in their reporting for the cost-cap.
“I'm sure that Mercedes, having seen that the rivals are kind of elevating the game, I'm sure they will now cash in on their development. Surely, it's happening on the ground.
“I'm sure the car in the windtunnel is quite a bit faster than the car they have on track, and they will want to now convert some of this potential into upgrades that make it to the real car. I'm pretty sure that they will have upgrades. Obviously, it would be good if not, but I don't even want to think it.”
Wolff thinks that ultimately the Mercedes cost cap strategy can only be judged over the full season – as it could be that others may have to switch off spending later in the campaign while his outfit has some more headroom.
“You will see how towards the end of the season if they're going to be able to deploy as much stuff onto the car as they do now,” he said.
“Someone might have a different strategy in spending more at the beginning and in the middle of the year than towards the end.”
Earlier in the year, Wolff annoyed Ferrari by suggesting Mercedes could not understand how the Maranello squad had been able to be so aggressive with bringing upgrades to the SF-26.
Wolff’s stance triggered a pointed response from Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.
"I found it quite ironic coming from Toto and Mercedes," he said. "But when Red Bull is developing or when Mercedes is developing, they are genius. When we are developing, we are cheating.”
Adding to Mercedes’ complications over the choice of timing of committing to bring an upgrade is that Antonelli will take an engine penalty at his home Italian Grand Prix – so his chances of fighting for the win there will be hampered.
Wolff added: “In theory, our calculations say that that's the best track to take it.
“Obviously, algorithms don't take the nationality into consideration. But we're here to fight for a championship and not get the most PR. So, yeah, that's what we're going to do. With George, the discussions are ongoing on if we were to take it.”
The Race ·
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