Through highs and lows, the Mercedes team finished the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship as the first of the challengers, but faces significant risks for 2026. Let’s relive their season.
With the start of the new era in F1, the ground-effect car cycle concludes—a concept never fully mastered by Mercedes. Despite this, in 2025, the team finished just behind McLaren, even with a huge points deficit, entering 2026 as one of the favorites.
Russell leads Mercedes, Antonelli struggles
As seen since his debut with the official Mercedes team, George Russell is the driver leading the squad. He performed alongside seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, and now takes the lead while paired with a debutant, 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Both drivers had a strong start in Melbourne: Russell finished third, Antonelli fourth after a remarkable climb from sixteenth in heavy rain. Experience soon became evident. George Russell reached the podium three more times before the summer break, including a win in Canada. Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, struggled with both personal mistakes and technical failures: reliability issues in Imola and Barcelona, no start in Monaco, incidents in Austria and the United Kingdom. Still, Antonelli celebrated his first podium in Canada.
Mercedes emerges as a Constructors’ threat
With most of the points earned by George Russell, Mercedes initially seemed set for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. But after the summer break, the team began to surprise. Victory in Singapore, two second-place finishes by Kimi Antonelli in Brazil, a double podium in Las Vegas, and other points finishes allowed the Brackley-based team to overtake competitors.
Ferrari collapsed as the last of the top teams, and Red Bull relied solely on Max Verstappen. Mercedes finished second in the Constructors’ Championship with 469 points, roughly half of McLaren’s total.
The “winning risk” for Mercedes in 2026
The team does not approach 2026 with complete confidence. Chaos erupted after a former employee revealed a potential loophole in the new engine, which could violate technical regulations. For now, after an initial FIA meeting, the new season seems set to receive approval, but surprises cannot be ruled out.
Mercedes will start 2026 as the favorite. If Kimi Antonelli is given a car capable of his first F1 victories, George Russell will simultaneously have to prove that he is ready to claim the world title he has long been touted for. The question remains whether their technical innovation will be hailed as genius or condemned as a breach of the rules.
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