Simone Resta identifies the “weakest point” of the dominant Mercedes W17. Mercedes dominates early in the 2026 Formula 1 season.

The Brackley-based team has acknowledged its key weakness, as shown by the 21 total positions lost at the start in the opening Grands Prix of the season

Dominant start to the season

The opening three races of the current Formula 1 season have seen Mercedes emerge as the undisputed leading force on the grid. In Australia, the Anglo-German outfit celebrated victory with George Russell, while also securing a one-two finish thanks to Andrea Kimi Antonelli claiming second place. The order was then reversed in China, where the young Italian driver from Bologna secured his first-ever Formula 1 victory. Most recently, during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, Antonelli made it two consecutive wins, while Russell narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing in fourth position.

These results have allowed Mercedes to take control of the championship standings early in the campaign. However, despite this strong start, there remains a clear issue that the Brackley-based team must address before returning to the track for the next round.

Negative race starts

Like other teams such as Audi, Mercedes has particularly struggled with race starts. Despite locking out the front row in all three Grands Prix so far (including the Sprint race in China), both drivers have encountered difficulties when the lights go out, collectively losing a total of 21 positions.

This is a problem that Ferrari has not experienced, nor has a team like McLaren, despite both teams also using Mercedes power units. The issue was openly acknowledged by Mercedes’ Deputy Technical Director, Simone Resta: “We know this is probably one of the weak points, if not the weakest, of our car at the moment,” he explained in a video released by the team. “We are working with maximum priority on this aspect to try to improve it for the upcoming races. We know, for example, by looking at McLaren’s start at Suzuka, that our power unit is capable of delivering strong launches. We will do our best to improve our performance in this area for Miami and we will try to defend as well as possible any positions we manage to secure in qualifying.”

Despite his two victories, Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been the driver most affected by Mercedes’ starting issues, as demonstrated by the higher number of positions he has lost compared to his teammate during the opening laps.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

George Russell