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Mercedes have won twelve of the nineteen Grands Prix of 2026, Kimi Antonelli is world champion, and the team leads the constructors' championship by 126 points. The season race by race, and what Toto Wolff says the advantage really is.
For the first fifteen qualifying sessions of 2026, every pole position was taken by a car with a Mercedes power unit in it. Then Max Verstappen took the next two for Red Bull.
The season's biggest prize is already decided: Kimi Antonelli clinched the drivers' title in Mexico City on 1 November, at 20 the youngest champion ever (
Eleven of those fifteen went to the works team, six for Kimi Antonelli and five for George Russell. Three went to Lando Norris's McLaren, and one to Pierre Gasly's Alpine at Monza. McLaren and Alpine both buy their engines from Mercedes. The works team has also won twelve of the nineteen Grands Prix and leads the constructors' championship on 630 points, 126 ahead of Ferrari.
Toto Wolff insists the advantage is smaller than it looks. The numbers below show where it is and where it is not. The team's radio from its most dominant afternoon, Monza, is in our Italian Grand Prix 2026 race radio archive, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking.
The first seven rounds:
| Round | Grand Prix | Antonelli | Russell |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australian | 2nd | Won |
| 2 | Chinese | Won | 2nd |
| 3 | Japanese | Won | 4th |
| 4 | Miami | Won | 4th |
| 5 | Canadian | Won | Retired |
| 6 | Monaco | Won | 12th |
| 7 | Barcelona | Retired | 2nd |
Rounds 8 to 19:
| Round | Grand Prix | Antonelli | Russell |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Austrian | 3rd | Won |
| 9 | British | 15th | 2nd |
| 10 | Belgian | Won | Retired |
| 11 | Hungarian | 3rd | 7th |
| 12 | Dutch | 2nd | 3rd |
| 13 | Italian | Won | 2nd |
| 14 | Spanish (Madrid) | Won | 5th |
| 15 | Azerbaijan | 5th | Won |
| 16 | Bahrain (at Sepang) | 2nd | Retired, lap 50 |
| 17 | Singapore | 3rd | 9th |
| 18 | United States | Won | 8th |
| 19 | Mexico City | 3rd, champion | 6th |
Wolff has argued it is smaller than the results suggest. His reading of the power unit picture is that Red Bull has the best combustion engine by the FIA's own measure, that Mercedes perhaps has the best power unit overall, and that there is little to choose between Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. He does not expect a repeat of the 2014 era.
The results agree with part of that. Mercedes won six of the first six races, then only two of the next six: from Barcelona to Zandvoort, Ferrari and McLaren also won two each. Antonelli then won Monza and Madrid. Ferrari-powered cars have won two races. Then Red Bull broke both records in eight days: Verstappen took pole and won at Sepang and in Singapore. Antonelli answered with pole and the win in Austin, and Verstappen won again in Mexico City, where Hamilton took Ferrari's first pole of the year.
That pole record was the clearest measure of the engine. Qualifying is where every car runs the same fuel-light, full-power lap, and fifteen pole laps in a row came from Mercedes-powered cars. Verstappen's two since are the first evidence for Wolff's argument that Red Bull's engine is at least as strong. Why the works team in particular has been so strong over one lap is measured in Mercedes took 10 of the first 13 poles.
The team's biggest management question this season has been its own drivers. At Monza, with Antonelli coming through from nineteenth on the grid and Russell leading, the engineer told Antonelli what the plan was:
Engineerso George has been given the message to build the gap to the staff he can't do that so that we will invert
"George has been given the message to build the gap... he can't do that, so that we will invert." In the end the swap was not needed. Antonelli caught Russell at 0.7 seconds a lap and passed him on lap 50. The full race is in our Italian GP race report.
The two seasons behind that moment are measured separately: Kimi Antonelli's 2026, nine wins, 380 points and the title, and George Russell's 2026, a battery failure from the lead in Canada, a mishandled penalty at Monaco and a first lap exit at Spa.
Four retirements in all: Russell's battery failure while leading in Canada, Antonelli's apparent power unit failure four laps from the end in Barcelona, Russell's first lap exit at Spa, and Russell's power unit at Sepang while running third on lap 50. Only Canada and Spa left a car unclassified; Barcelona and Sepang came late enough to count as classified finishes. Power units have also cost grid places: Antonelli started nineteenth at Monza, and Russell nineteenth in Singapore after qualifying sixth.
Four rounds remain: Sao Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The drivers' title is Antonelli's. The constructors' title is not settled yet: Mercedes lead Ferrari by 126 points with up to 172 available to each team, and they clinch it in Sao Paulo if they outscore Ferrari by four points or more. Ferrari have outscored them on each of the last four weekends, so it is not a formality. The Sao Paulo times are in our Sao Paulo GP 2026 preview, and the full table is in the 2026 standings.
Results, poles and points come from formula1.com's official results and starting grids, and match the published championship standings after the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The pole record measures the whole car, not only the engine. Mercedes-powered cars taking fifteen poles in a row is a strong signal about the power unit, but chassis, driver and conditions all play a part in every one of those laps.
Quotes are taken only from lines where the speaker label and the words agree. Where we have shortened a message, the cut is marked with an ellipsis.
Twelve of the first nineteen: nine for Kimi Antonelli and three for George Russell.
The results point strongly to the power unit: the first fifteen poles of 2026 all went to Mercedes-powered cars, including McLaren and Alpine, before Red Bull took two. Toto Wolff argues the advantage is small, with Red Bull holding the best combustion engine by the FIA's measure.
Mercedes, on 630 points after the Mexico City Grand Prix, 126 ahead of Ferrari. They clinch it in Sao Paulo if they outscore Ferrari by four points or more.
Three: the Australian, Chinese and Italian Grands Prix.
When two drivers in the same car are fighting for the championship, the team's instructions go out on the radio, and the stewards' documents record anything that follows.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio, and collects every FIA document of the weekend as it is published, including the power unit changes that put Antonelli nineteenth at Monza. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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Five Miami Grands Prix have been held since 2022, and only one was won from pole: Kimi Antonelli's in 2026. Max Verstappen won from ninth in 2023, and Lando Norris took his first win there in 2024. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
