Mercedes ahead of everyone
The regulatory revolution of 2026 allowed Mercedes to regain ground and clearly put themselves ahead of everyone at the start of the season.
Compared to what was seen in the very first races, where the W17s seemed to have a clear advantage, in the last 3 world events a Ferrari, a Mercedes, and a McLaren have won.
Toto Wolff has always urged the Mercedes men to keep their focus high, as reliability issues and developments from rival teams are making this world championship less predictable than the current standings suggest.
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Toto Wolff’s analysis
“We started the season very solidly,” began Toto Wolff in the interview with RacingNews365, adding: “As a company and team, integrating power unit and chassis allowed us to achieve results of clear dominance. But we were hard hit by reliability, we had three or four retirements.”
The jabs at Ferrari
In his assessment, Toto Wolff also rekindled the rivalry with Ferrari: “We probably lost 70 or 80 points due to not finishing compared to Ferrari. Today we have 70 or something more (72, ed.) points advantage, adding another 70 would mean a really very, very important margin. But we lost them and the others are catching up.”
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And again: “Actually, Ferrari’s 2 wins came because we lost them. We were unlucky in Barcelona with the Safety Car and then with Kimi’s problems in Silverstone. Also, when someone brings updates, it’s a step up. We saw Ferrari or McLaren bring developments – unlike us – and suddenly we found ourselves fighting hard.”
After 11 Grand Prix of the 2026 world championship, Mercedes has won 8 times and scored 379 points, Ferrari follows at 302 and McLaren at 220.
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