Mercedes F1 worry as 'Achilles heel' fears raised

Toto Wolff, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell of Mercedes cast glum looks — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes F1 worry as 'Achilles heel' fears raised

Mercedes may be dominant, but they are not perfect

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 16 June 2026 19:57

Mercedes may have won six of the seven F1 rounds in 2026, but they have one major problem holding them back from winning a title.

At present Mercedes are unreachable for their rivals. Every grand prix qualifying pole position has gone to either George Russell or Kimi Antonelli in 2026, and between them they have hoovered up most of the race victories.

Despite the prevailing narrative that Mercedes are dominant, you have to admit, they're not perfect. And the reliability of the Mercedes power unit could yet decide the way the 2026 championship swings.

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First it was George Russell who suffered in Canada, during a weekend he did everything perfectly and desperately needed a win to claw back an advantage in the title race.

Instead, Russell's W17 suffered an engine failure, an issue that could take 'several months' to confirm due to the complications. But the consequences have already had a far-reaching repercussions on Russell's title challenge.

Likewise, Antonelli was a late retirement from the Barcelona Grand Prix and his DNF has allowed Lewis Hamilton to edge a little closer to his place at the top of the drivers' standings.

Wolff right to be unhappy about Mercedes reliability

Following Antonelli's DNF in Barcelona, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff stated that their reliability was 'not good enough' and F1 pundit David Coulthard has concurred.

Speaking on the Up to Speed podcast, Coulthard said: "One thing I really respect about Toto, in success he's there and he does the interviews, in failure he's there and he does the interviews, because it's very easy to suddenly bury your head when things are not going so well, and you could see he's super professional as always.

"He's going, 'yeah, this is just not acceptable. The reliability we have right now across the board has affected Williams, it's affected McLaren, it's affecting us.' Alpine, I don't recall one particular issue, but I assume they've had something.

"So, the Achilles heel for Mercedes is real, and that's going to be a head scratcher, because engines are massively complex and not easy to sort those issues."

F1 Mercedes George Russell Toto Wolff Kimi Antonelli David Coulthard