Mercedes heads into the second part of the 2026 Formula 1 season with a concern around George Russell: the team is “out of sync” in car development and will need to hope that the next update package works as expected.
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The W17 has not received a major package since the Canadian GP in May. Even so, Mercedes leads the Constructors’ Championship by 87 points over Ferrari before the Italian GP. Among the drivers, Russell is 59 points behind teammate Kimi Antonelli, who has 183 points and shares second place with Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari.
Russell is ahead of Hamilton by having two wins, against one for the Ferrari driver. 2025 champion Lando Norris of McLaren has closed in and is only 24 points behind Russell. After Norris’s dominant win at the Dutch GP, Antonelli stated that McLaren is “now the car to beat.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explained that the “financial realities” of the budget cap prevent the team from bringing updates to the track at the same pace as Ferrari and McLaren. The strategy is to hold back developments to launch a big package later in the season.
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Russell believes the moment requires attention, especially because Mercedes no longer shows the dominance of previous periods: “Given the fact that we are nowhere near as dominant as we once were, I think this was a very solid weekend overall,” the Brit explained about his performance at the Dutch GP.
“I haven’t been on the podium at times when we had the best car, and Kimi was performing well at the front. Now, you know, the pace between the two of us seems very similar, and that is a good step forward for me. I’m not dealing with as many issues as I faced at the end of the first half of the season, and that is allowing me to focus on the work. But I think these next two or three races will be a challenge for both of us, purely and simply because we are out of sync with the updates.
“There is still a long way to go. I think Ferrari is great. Lando has also been on pole in the last two races, so you can’t rule anyone out. We have these updates coming. We have to hope they work. It only takes one problem with an update, and it doesn’t work as you expect, and before you know it, you won’t be fighting week after week, and important points can be lost,” Russell concluded.
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