How many points lost
Toto Wolff has repeatedly emphasized that Mercedes’ main opponent in 2026 is Mercedes itself because too many times Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have seen victories or important placements slip away due to reliability issues.
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Lewis Hamilton, regarding the problems Mercedes has had in this first half of the season, pointed out that sooner or later Antonelli or Russell will have to drop significantly on the starting grid as already happened to Lando Norris who served a 10-place penalty in Belgium for introducing a new battery.
Riccardo Patrese does not share the same view. The former driver stated that from his point of view the problems Mercedes has had are simple glitches related to the youth of this regulation. Thanks to the experience gained in this first half of the season, Patrese does not expect many other technical issues at Mercedes.
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“I don’t know what the problem is, these new engines are very complex – Patrese’s words reached by New Betting Sites – making sure everything works well, is reliable and competitive is a huge job. Time, however, plays in Mercedes’ favor, because the more information you have, the more you can solve the problems. At that point, reliability keeps improving. I believe that from every Grand Prix they are learning something about what went wrong, why it happened, and how to fix it. I don’t think reliability will be a problem for Mercedes for the rest of the season“.
Certainly Russell – who had another problem in Q3 in Hungary – and Antonelli sooner or later will have to drop on the starting grid. The hypothesis is that Antonelli will ‘spend’ the penalty in Monza or Baku.
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