Tree species
Toto Wolff revealed that Mercedes is set to bring more upgrades in the second half of the 2026 Formula 1 season – but is “closely monitoring” when to introduce them. The start of this new regulation cycle has gone as expected with the development race largely dictating the ever-changing pecking order as teams gain more understanding of the ruleset. It saw Mercedes win the opening six grands prix from pole, but then ‘only’ win two of the next five as Ferrari and McLaren were more aggressive with their upgrades.
At one stage, that even caused Wolff to question how Ferrari, in particular, could bring substantial packages to Miami and Barcelona under the $215m cost cap in a very front-heavy approach. For Mercedes, meanwhile, its only major upgrade came in Canada, and outside of that the focus has been on gradual but smaller updates, which should remain the case for the final 12 rounds. “We need to be really just strategic about when to bring the upgrades,” said team boss Wolff in Hungary last time out. “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. Toto Wolff, Mercedes
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“We cannot do this, so you will have to eventually put an upgrade in and probably you leapfrog a little bit the others and then it kind of flattens out and the other ones coming stronger.
“So yeah we’re bringing upgrades, we’re closely monitoring how much we can bring and at the moment cost cap wise we’re in a good spot, we’ve tried to have it a little bit more second half of the season, waited – and let’s see if that’s enough.”
But there is one caveat to the plan and that is the expected grid penalties coming Kimi Antonelli and George Russell’s way as they approach the limit for engine usage across a season. Antonelli and Russell are on their fourth and third new engines respectively for 2026, and a fifth incurs a 10-place grid drop – the consequence for the Silver Arrows’ reliability woes. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord added: “Looking at how many we’ve used in the first half of the season, it’s almost inevitable that at some point there will be penalties to take. “That’s something that the strategy team and guys in Brixsworth will work to figure out what the optimum route is through the rest of the season. “But it’s realistically going to be hard to get to the end of the season on the existing hard weather we’ve got.”
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