Toto Wolff admits Mercedes have lost control on crucial F1 issue

Mercedes

Toto Wolff admits Mercedes have lost control on crucial F1 issue

Mercedes now only hold a 78-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 7 July 2026 15:55

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Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has revealed that the team need to get to the bottom of their reliability issues, or face missing out on winning both the drivers' and constructors' titles.

The outfit have suffered multiple failures so far this year, with it harming George Russell in the early weeks of the season. Now, however, it seems to be championship leader Kimi Antonelli who is getting all the bad luck.

The young Italian was running in second during the Barcelona Grand Prix when he suffered power unit issues, having to retire from the race and scoring zero points.

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Then, at the British GP last weekend, Antonelli was chasing down the race victory when he suffered a wheel shield failure. The 19-year-old heroically carried on and tried to claim the final world championship point on offer, but a late penalty saw him drop down to 15th in the final classification.

It means that over the last three race weekends, his gap to Russell in the drivers' championship has been cut from 68 points down to 25. But, more importantly for Mercedes, it has also allowed Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to get himself into the mix for the championship, only 32 points behind Antonelli and seven behind Russell.

Now, Wolff has said that, although both drivers have had their fair share of the bad luck, collectively Mercedes need to sort their reliability issues out.

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Wolff - Mercedes need more control

"They have both had bad luck of DNFing - Kimi now twice, George once, and the season is long.

"George just needs to continue to believe he can do it, finding those little gremlins in the car that cause him trouble at the moment.

"It's so many points," he continued, talking about their reliability concerns. "If that continues to accumulate, you can only win a championship if we get this under control."

Will Mercedes win the constructors' championship?

All in all, Mercedes' reliability struggles mean that Ferrari are now just 78 points behind them in the constructors' championship, despite the fact Mercedes have won seven of the nine grands prix in 2026.

It's a concern for Wolff, with the Austrian not wanting to let a season where the team have a dominant car slip.

"It's a tough development race and Ferrari have been bringing parts more than we have," he continued. "Silverstone should have been a bogey track for them with the energy. They were thinking they would have a five or six tenths deficit but they were absolutely on par with us for big parts of the race.

"This is a tough fight for us."

F1 Mercedes George Russell Kimi Antonelli British Grand Prix