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Toto Wolff knows what Mercedes need for Andrea Kimi Antonelli or George Russell to end 2026 as the F1 champion, and not see Lewis Hamilton win his first title for Ferrari.
Hamilton brought Mercedes and Wolff years of success over his 12 seasons in Brackley from 2013 to 2024. But the 2026 season is now looking increasingly likely to see Hamilton go toe-to-toe with his former friends, in his quest to become Ferrari’s first F1 champion since 2007.
Winning his first Grand Prix for Ferrari last time out in Barcelona moved Hamilton to only 41 points behind Antonelli at the top of the 2026 F1 drivers’ standings after seven of this year’s 22 rounds. Hamilton now even leads Russell in third place by nine points heading to Austria.
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Mercedes must get Kimi Antonelli and George Russell ‘under control’ to beat Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari are ready to go all-in on Hamilton’s 2026 F1 title bid now, too, as his win in Barcelona has completely changed the internal balance in Maranello. Team boss Fred Vasseur’s efforts behind the scenes to offer Hamilton the tools he needs have helped inspire everyone in red.
READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix on TV, plus the weather forecast
Hamilton’s pace en route to him winning the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was also a big ‘eye-opener’ for Mercedes. That is according to Auto Action (page 22), which notes that ‘no one’ at Mercedes doubted that Hamilton had them beat in his pursuit of glory in Montmelo.
Mercedes reject any theories that Hamilton lucked into the win by making his third and final pit stop under the late virtual safety car. While Russell suffered from increased understeer as a result of a mistake adjusting his front wing at his final pit stop, Charles Leclerc was also 0.3 seconds a lap faster than Antonelli with an identical two-stop strategy when he had clear air.
So, Wolff and his ‘closest collaborators’ at Mercedes accept they have three ‘major’ issues to solve for them to help Antonelli or Russell win the title against Hamilton’s emergence. Those major problems are competitiveness, reliability and getting their two drivers ‘under control’.
Mercedes know that they cannot keep suffering reliability problems, especially due to their battery given Russell retired from the lead of the Canadian Grand Prix and Antonelli retired soon after taking P2 in the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, but a full fix will take some time to sort.
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It also does not help Mercedes that they can currently only use Antonelli’s battery to detect the cause of their problems. Russell’s battery is still being shipped back from Canada, as the team could not transport the damaged unit by plane, and it will take several weeks to arrive.
But Wolff is well aware that Mercedes also have to deal with Antonelli and Russell’s ‘battle for supremacy’. The first sparks arrived owing to Antonelli believing that Russell was overly aggressive in his defence during the Montreal Sprint, and they flickered again in Barcelona.
Controlling Russell and Antonelli, even with team orders, will not be an easy task for Wolff and Mercedes, though, with both drivers bidding to win the F1 title for the first time. Wolff insists Mercedes operate team before self, but it remains to be seen whether they play ball.
It also likely does not help Mercedes that Russell has not finished in front of Antonelli in any Grand Prix on merit since he won the first race in Australia. Bar the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Russell has only edged Antonelli since round one in the Sprints in China, Miami and Canada.
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