– Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff emphasizes that in Formula 1 in 2026, you cannot bring new upgrades for your own car to the start week after week. Instead, you have to handle the packages for the W17 strategically, according to the explanation of the 54-year-old in Hungary.
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“When do you think,” Wolff says, “that the upgrades will have the greatest impact on performance, instead of just, as in the past, throwing in [new upgrades] at every Grand Prix.”
The difference lies, among other things, in the budget cap. Where Formula 1 teams previously theoretically had the possibility to invest unlimited sums of money in the development of their own car, there has been a prescribed limit since 2021. In the 2026 season, the budget cap is around 215 million US dollars.
Wolff has not least questioned Ferrari’s upgrade frequency several times. After all, the racing team from Maranello regularly manages to bring new updates for the SF-26 to the start despite the budget cap.
“At some point you have to bring an upgrade,” says the team principal, “and presumably you will pull ahead of the others. But then it balances out and [the competition] becomes stronger again.”
“Yes, we bring upgrades,” Wolff confirms. “We watch very closely how many we can use. In terms of the budget cap, things look good right now. We have tried to save a bit for the second half of the season and wait. Let’s see if that is enough.”
In the first half of the season, the W17 from Brackley was clearly the strongest overall package. Although Kimi Antonelli and George Russell more often struggled with reliability issues, they lead both championship standings unchallenged at the summer break.
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While Mercedes is in first place in the constructors’ championship, Antonelli enjoys the status as the youngest championship leader in Formula 1 history so far. His lead over the second-placed Lewis Hamilton is 50 points before the race weekend in Zandvoort.
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The biggest Mercedes upgrade so far came in Canada. Otherwise, the Silver Arrows have mainly worked with smaller improvements compared to the competition. This includes, not least, the engine development first used in Austria.
Away from the upcoming upgrades, reliability remains an important issue for Mercedes. After all, both Antonelli and Russell are expected to face grid penalties in the second half of the season.
While Antonelli recently used the fourth engine from the available quota, Russell is at engine number three. From the fifth power unit onwards, there is a ten-place grid penalty. Consequently, this factor is also part of the team’s strategic considerations.
“The strategy team and the guys in Brixworth will work on figuring out what the best way is for the rest of the season,” says Bradley Lord, deputy team principal at Mercedes.
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“But realistically, with our current wear, it will be difficult to reach the end of the season.”
