Toto Wolff lets slip that the FIA made a mistake with ruling on Mercedes car

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Toto Wolff has admitted that Mercedes have the best F1 power unit after all, despite Red Bull being ranked as the benchmark.

Kimi Antonelli’s victory at the Belgian Grand Prix was Mercedes’ eighth in the first 10 races of the 2026 season.

That dominance shows why it came as a surprise when Mercedes were ranked second in the engine pecking order behind newcomers Red Bull Powertrains. Significantly, this enables them to upgrade their machinery once this year and once more in 2027.

Toto Wolff: Mercedes have the most powerful engine, not Red Bull

It’s important to stress that ADUO is only based on internal combustion engine power and doesn’t account for the battery. It may be that Red Bull are ahead in the former category, even though there are also suspicions that Mercedes turned their engine down to game the system before the measurement deadline.

Red Bull challenged the ruling, seemingly to no avail, and Wolff inadvertently gave them more ammunition on Sunday. If the controversial ADUO system survives, there will be calls to expand it to cover the whole power unit, especially given the importance of batteries in today’s F1.

Is George Russell fighting with one hand behind his back, or is Kimi Antonelli just too good?

Antonelli extends his lead in the standings to 44 points after Spa!

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In his post-race interview with Sky Sports, Wolff said: “We’re trying as our best as a team. We have the most powerful power unit, we have a strong car that is capable of winning.

“Everybody gives the maximum to minimise the mistakes, and still it happens because we are humans at work.”

Reliability has been the only weak spot so far. Wolff confirmed that there was an issue affecting all Mercedes-powered cars on Sunday, though it’s unclear if it was just at the start or throughout the race.

George Russell retired on the opening lap after making contact with Lewis Hamilton, but he says the incident would never have happened if he had had adequate power on the Kemmel Straight. These glitches are keeping the championship alive.

Mercedes’ lead in the constructors’ is an assailable 73 points even though the car itself is a class above. They have only scored a double podium in three of the first 10 Grands Prix.