After four years of struggling with a difficult-to-tame ground‑effect chassis, Toto Wolff’s Mercedes entered 2026 determined to reclaim its former dominance. The combined efforts of the Brackley chassis team and the Brixworth power‑unit division produced a car that initially seemed capable of a winning streak, but ongoing reliability issues have lowered its current grade to an A‑.
The good
Mercedes emerged from winter testing as the prohibitive favourite for the new era, boasting a strong chassis, a powerful engine and state‑of‑the‑art energy‑deployment systems that recalled the team’s 2014 dominance. Strong qualifying performances in Australia highlighted this advantage, with George Russell and a markedly improved Kimi Antonelli setting times that left the rest of the field far behind. The team went on to win the first ten qualifying sessions and the first six Grands Prix in succession, building an commanding lead in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
Antonelli’s streak of five consecutive victories was especially noteworthy for a rookie who had faced a difficult debut season. The Italian teenager displayed increased confidence and consistency, establishing himself as a genuine title contender.
He now leads Lewis Hamilton by 50 points ahead of the summer break, with teammate Russell a further nine points behind. In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes holds a 72‑point advantage over the nearest challenger, Ferrari.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
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The bad
However, Mercedes’ early advantage was significantly eroded by a series of reliability problems, particularly with the power unit, which affected both the works team and some customer outfits. Russell was forced to retire from a commanding lead in Canada, while Antonelli suffered a crippling electrical failure in Barcelona.
Mercedes has since introduced reliability upgrades to the battery pack, but these come at the cost of grid penalties later in the season. Meanwhile, Ferrari and McLaren have made substantial chassis developments, narrowing the performance gap and securing race wins on merit before the summer hiatus. Mercedes still plans to roll out its own upgrade package later in the season, aiming to re‑assert its front‑running status.
Another concern for the team is George Russell’s ability to adapt to the new energy‑deployment regulations. Compared with his teammate, Russell has struggled more with the technical changes and has come under pressure to deliver the results he felt should have marked his breakthrough year.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Brett Farmer / LAT Images via Getty Images
What they’re saying
“We haven’t brought an upgrade for some time and you can see that this is going to be a development fight going forward. We need to be really just being strategic about when to bring the upgrades, when do we think they will have the biggest impact on performance, rather than just throwing it in at every grand prix like in the past. We’ve tried to have it a little bit more in the second half of the season.
Even though the gap is 50 points, there are so many races to go. A DNF or two can just swing massively and we’ve not been great on reliability, so we just have to continue to maximise every single day from the Friday onwards to the Sunday and then hopefully at the end that will be enough.” – Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO