Antonelli’s rapid rise has reshaped expectations at Mercedes, and Russell knows it
The Mercedes W17 has had a flying start to the 2026 season, but will others be able to catch up?
Mercedes has started the F1 2026 season as the team to beat, as early paddock suggestions had predicted, with a power unit believed to be the pick of the bunch combining with a high-class chassis to boot.
In only his second season, Kimi Antonelli leads the very early Drivers’ Championship standings ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell, but with a high development curve expected this season, the battle in either championship is far from over.
Mercedes plays to its early advantage in F1 2026
With power unit rules in Formula 1 dictating that customer teams must receive the same specification as its factory partners, the one advantage Mercedes had from their PU was the knowledge of how it would work in practice, with a radically different regulation set coming into force.
Andrea Stella made exactly this point in Australia, that a portion of its early deficit to the Silver Arrows had simply been in understanding how to make the most of the power unit.
Three rounds in, the McLaren team principal explained that, with the help of Mercedes’ High Performance Powertrains division, the team has now made a “significant step” in this area, meaning the playing field should level somewhat by the time the Miami Grand Prix rolls around.
That particular advantage for Mercedes was only likely to be short-lived, and the team certainly made hay while they could with their extra in-house knowledge.
Having been beaten to titles by its customers in the past two seasons, that is something the team will continue to seek to redress in 2026.
Kimi Antonelli rises after up-and-down rookie season
We’re yet to see a race-long battle emerge between the current Mercedes duo, as would so often happen in the Hamilton-Rosberg days over a decade ago, so thoughts of a burgeoning in-team Mercedes rivalry may perhaps be premature.
However, as Antonelli took his first Grand Prix poles and victories in China and Japan – looking particularly assured in Shanghai while benefitting from Safety Car timing at Suzuka – he now holds the championship lead for the first time.
Followers of the Italian’s junior career will note this high potential as no surprise, winning series upon series and bypassing Formula 3 entirely to jump to F2 machinery two seasons ago, but Formula 1 is a different beast entirely.
The highs of the teenager’s first podiums were tempered with several off-weekends compared to Russell, and having been well beaten in terms of points and the head-to-head battles, many expected Russell to continue to be the established number one this season.
More about Mercedes in early 2026 season
Will the FIA engine changes wipe out Ferrari start advantage over Mercedes?
Mercedes completes historic Silverstone milestone with first female F1 test
But as Antonelli explained, with the tracks and experiences now familiar to him, that has only changed what he has expected. That being said, he does not want to get ahead of himself.
“I think it’s been a better start than what we all anticipated and hoped for, at least on my side,” he told PlanetF1.com and others in an April media session.
“Definitely, expectations, automatically they’re a bit different now, but at the end of the day, I still try to keep the same mindset that I had in the previous three races, just trying to put myself in the best position as possible to then achieve a great result.
“What I don’t want to do is, now that obviously we’re in a good position, is start to think about the final result, or a long-term result.
“I just really want to focus on the present and how I can maximise every time I go in the car in order to get the best result, focusing on the process and then, little by little, trying to raise the bar, raise the game, because obviously George is super strong, and competitors will get closer.”
George Russell now battling expectations alongside Antonelli
From his time as so-called ‘Mister Saturday’ in regularly outperforming his machinery at Williams, Russell has long been seen as the heir apparent to Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
He matched up well against the sport’s most statistically successful driver and, once Hamilton departed for Ferrari, took up the team leader mantle as expected last season and, with Mercedes long seen as title favourites for 2026, that placed Russell at the top of the odds for a maiden Drivers’ title.
Given Antonelli’s early improvements, though, the Briton will have to make sure he is at his best at every weekend to keep his teammate behind.
Having worked closely with the teenager, too, Russell knows plenty about his strengths already – but he is keeping his focus inward when it comes to this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.
Asked if he felt under any extra pressure due to Antonelli’s performance in Miami last season, Russell replied: “No, not at all, because that was his strongest track last year, but I had 20-plus other tracks that were very strong for me.
“This is a championship that is won over the whole season, and as long as I maximise my points by the end of the season, what happens race by race, no-one remembers, and that is my goal.
“That is what I’m confident in achieving over a course of a championship: consistency, good results on the bad days, victory on the good days – and that is going to continue to be my goal every single weekend.
“So as I said, I’m not thinking about Kimi, I’m not thinking about the championship, I’m focused on myself.
“I have things that I also need to improve around the race start, because that is clearly a very important factor. I have things I need to improve around the Safety Car restart as I made some procedural errors that led to me being overtaken by Lewis in Japan, and then the problem later in the race with with [Charles] Leclerc.
“So, if I iron out these things, we’re in a very different situation.”
Will the drivers need to be managed?
With Russell having said the performance targets required for him to trigger a contract extension should be achievable, and Mercedes highly unlikely to let a talent of Antonelli’s standard go on this evidence, this could well continue to be the team’s line-up for the coming seasons.
Having had plenty of experience of handling two high-performing teammates, Toto Wolff will very much take a no-nonsense approach to the drivers – but only if he needs to.
“We have learned a lot over the last 10-plus years and how to best handle these situations,” Wolff told PlanetF1.com and others, “but best handle means also letting them race and acknowledging the fact that they race.
“There are certain values that we stand for in the team. The team is always bigger than the drivers.
“It is Mercedes, so one of the most formidable brands in the world, the best car brand in the world, we race for 150,000 people that work for us, a company that exists for more than 120 years, and to be one of the few selected race for Mercedes also comes with a responsibility.
“The moment the driver feels like this is all about him, that’s not the mindset that we would ever allow or accept in the team.
“I would rather have only one car driving if that wasn’t clear, but I think it will never come to that point, because our drivers, they’ve been so long in the Mercedes family that they are part of that mindset and this philosophical approach and the legacy that we represent.”
What about Mercedes’ rivals?
So, with matters well in hand within Mercedes and the car underneath the drivers to show its potential, the W17’s only apparent weakness so far has appeared to be off the start line – though Ferrari’s inherent strength in this regard plays its own part in that, and both Mercedes drivers have shown themselves more than capable of making their way back past their rivals again.
Nobody in the paddock has made a secret of the fact the 2026 season will be a rare kind of development race, with larger impacts able to be had when a regulation set is fresh.
Ferrari appears to have a chassis at least on par with Mercedes but the team has referenced a comparative lack of power, McLaren is taking steps forward, Red Bull should never be written off and it remains to be seen where Aston Martin will truly run, once its vibration issues are eventually ironed out.
Mercedes are the hunted rather than the hunters based on the early evidence of the season, and its job from here will be to retain the advantage it has created for itself, if not increase it.
Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher
Early F1 2026 season rating: 10/10
Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.
You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!
Read next: Max Verstappen informed as Red Bull confirms GianPiero Lambiase exit timeline
