Riccardo Patrese does not expect Mercedes’ reliability problems to remain a major concern during the second half of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Despite the technical failures that have cost Kimi Antonelli and George Russell potential victories and other important results, the former Formula 1 driver believes Mercedes will learn from its early setbacks.
Toto Wolff has repeatedly stressed that Mercedes’ greatest opponent in 2026 has been Mercedes itself. Reliability problems have too often prevented Kimi Antonelli and George Russell from converting the performance of their car into the results available to them, leaving valuable championship points behind.
Lewis Hamilton expects Mercedes to face grid penalties
Discussing the problems Mercedes encountered during the opening half of the season, Lewis Hamilton suggested that either Kimi Antonelli or George Russell would eventually have to accept a significant grid drop. A similar situation affected Lando Norris at the Belgian Grand Prix, where the McLaren driver served a 10-place grid penalty after taking a new battery.
Grid penalties could therefore add another complication to a season in which George Russell has already come under pressure. His difficult campaign has prompted questions about George Russell’s long-term position at Mercedes, making an improvement during the second half of 2026 increasingly important.
Riccardo Patrese backs Mercedes to solve its reliability problems
Riccardo Patrese does not share Lewis Hamilton’s broader concern over Mercedes reliability. From the former driver’s perspective, the problems experienced by the Brackley team are simply teething troubles associated with the new Formula 1 regulations.
Having accumulated valuable information during the first half of the campaign, Mercedes should now be better equipped to understand its technical difficulties and prevent them from recurring. Riccardo Patrese therefore does not anticipate many further failures during the remainder of the season.
“I don’t know what the problem is; these new engines are very complex,” Riccardo Patrese told New Betting Sites. “Making sure everything works properly and is both reliable and competitive is an enormous task.
“However, time is on Mercedes’ side because the more information you have, the more capable you become of solving the problems. At that point, reliability continues to improve.
“I believe they are learning something at every Grand Prix about what went wrong, why it happened and how to fix it. I don’t think reliability will be a problem for Mercedes during the rest of the season.”
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli could still take penalties
Even if Mercedes prevents further unexpected failures, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are still expected to face grid drops at some stage. George Russell suffered another problem during Q3 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, adding to the team’s difficulties before he finished seventh in the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The current expectation is that Kimi Antonelli could take his grid penalty either at Monza or Baku. Mercedes consequently faces a difficult strategic decision over where to introduce new components, with Toto Wolff already considering the implications of a possible Monza penalty for Kimi Antonelli.
While such penalties could temporarily compromise the team’s results, Riccardo Patrese believes Mercedes’ growing understanding of its package should make persistent technical failures less likely. The second half of the campaign will reveal whether the Brackley team has learned enough to convert its performance into more consistent results.
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