Mercedes has spent time addressing one of the few weaknesses that had emerged during the early stages of the 2026 Formula 1 season: race starts. Alongside software interventions, the Silver Arrows also introduced ergonomic changes to Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s clutch lever in a bid to improve consistency and driver feel.
One of Mercedes’ few weak points
Mercedes had shown very few obvious weaknesses at the start of the season, but launch performance was certainly one of them. On several occasions — particularly with Andrea Kimi Antonelli — the team lost positions as soon as the lights went out, to the point that before the Canadian Grand Prix, Mercedes had never managed to lead at the end of the opening lap despite securing every pole position.
It was clearly an issue that needed solving. Starting from the front only to be swallowed by the pack within a few hundred metres was far from the ideal way to shape a Grand Prix. The size of the turbo played a role, but it was not the only factor. McLaren, despite using the same power unit, had repeatedly demonstrated far stronger launches.
The Woking-based team, for example, designs its gearbox in-house and has opted for relatively short gear ratios, a different philosophy compared to Mercedes. As team principal Andrea Stella has also confirmed, that approach offers an advantage off the line, even if it is not the sole explanation. On average, however, McLaren had clearly been outperforming Mercedes in launch execution.
The real issue was consistency
The biggest concern was inconsistency. Mercedes was not simply lacking explosive starts — it was also struggling with unpredictable launch performance. In some races, the damage was limited to losing a single position, while in others the drop through the field was far more severe.
This had already been visible during pre-season testing in Bahrain, where producing a clean launch often took multiple attempts. That inconsistency particularly affected Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who frequently found himself slipping backwards during the opening phase of races.
However, not every poor start was the Italian driver’s fault. In Australia, for instance, Andrea Kimi Antonelli arrived on the grid without sufficient battery energy due to a calculation error by the team, preventing him from completing proper burnouts to warm the rear tyres. With the battery partially depleted, acceleration after clutch release was inevitably compromised as well.
In China, there was a misunderstanding with his race engineer over the launch mapping settings, while in Miami the issue stemmed from incorrect grip estimates. Mercedes had expected significantly higher grip levels from his grid slot, meaning the launch parameters — from torque delivery to clutch release timing and modulation — were based on overly optimistic assumptions, triggering a chain reaction of problems.
Software changes and a clutch redesign
At Suzuka, however, the responsibility lay more with the driver, as Andrea Kimi Antonelli released the clutch too aggressively. It is an extremely sensitive component, where even a few degrees of movement can make a decisive difference. That is why Mercedes approached the issue on two fronts. First, the team worked on the software, as it was clear there were system-level weaknesses that needed to be addressed.
At the same time, Andrea Kimi Antonelli opted for ergonomic modifications to his clutch lever to improve feel during release. The lever itself was not fundamentally redesigned — it remains the familiar single-paddle setup used for years — but Mercedes adjusted the finger housing area, making small positional changes to allow finer control during the clutch bite phase.
“We have a new clutch lever on my side to help me be a bit more consistent with the clutch release,” Andrea Kimi Antonelli explained – “Obviously, the team has worked a lot on the software side and on the clutch itself, trying both to find more performance and to make the system a bit more robust.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli then tested the solutions during practice, with the updates remaining in place for the rest of the weekend.
Signs of progress in Canada
The finger housing is tailored to each individual driver, who must find the right sensitivity at the clutch bite point. In Canada, Mercedes appeared to make genuine progress.
In the Sprint, George Russell produced an outstanding launch — arguably the best among the front-runners. In the Grand Prix itself, evaluating performance became more difficult due to the three separate starts and the slippery conditions created by light drizzle, but overall, Mercedes’ getaway performance could no longer be considered a major weakness.
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