Mercedes, targeted updates for Antonelli and Russell
During the weekend in Hungary, Kimi Antonelli anticipated that Mercedes would bring some new components to Zandvoort, and that a larger development package would arrive only later. Toto Wolff’s team has not needed constant updates, considering the substantial advantage in terms of design and power unit performance. However, Ferrari and McLaren are closing in, so it is time to respond.
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After the summer break, the Brackley team will have to decide when to bring updates to the track, in order to give Antonelli and George Russell the best tools to compete for the World Championship. A choice that for team principal Toto Wolff is not straightforward.
Wolff’s words
“We have to be strategic about when to introduce updates,” said team principal Wolff in Hungary. “We have to do it when we think they will have the greatest possible impact on performance, instead of bringing them to every GP.”
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“We cannot have new updates at every race, so we are in a situation where one team brings an update and will probably surpass the others, then the situation stabilizes and the others become stronger,” added the Austrian. “We are making updates, we are carefully monitoring how much we can do and at the moment, in terms of budget cap, we are in a good position. We have tried to focus a bit more on the second half of the season, we have waited, let’s see if it will be enough.”
In the 2026 World Championship, Mercedes has used only the Montreal package, along with minor updates, while Ferrari has been much more consistent in improving the SF-26 (to the point that Wolff teased the Red team expressing his doubts about compliance with the budget cap). There is also the scenario of an enhanced engine with the ADUO, a hypothesis that could materialize in September but has not yet been confirmed.
