Mercedes F1 2026: Wins, Poles and Results, Measured
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Mercedes' 2026 season, measured: ten wins, and every pole of the year on Mercedes power
Mercedes have won ten of the fourteen Grands Prix of 2026 and lead the constructors' championship by 145 points. Every pole position this season has gone to a car with a Mercedes power unit. The season race by race, and what Toto Wolff says the advantage really is.
Fourteen qualifying sessions into 2026, every pole position has been taken by a car with a Mercedes power unit in it.
Ten went to the works team, six for Kimi Antonelli and four 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 ten of the fourteen Grands Prix, leads the constructors' championship on 503 points, 145 ahead of Ferrari, and has failed to finish only three times in twenty-eight entries.
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
, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking.
Every race of their 2026 season
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
Finishing positions in each Grand Prix.
The next seven:
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
Mercedes finished first and second in Australia, China and Italy.
The season in numbers
10 wins from 14: eight for Antonelli, two for Russell.
10 poles for the works team, and 14 of 14 for Mercedes-powered cars once McLaren and Alpine are included.
3 one-two finishes: Melbourne, Shanghai and Monza.
19 podiums from 28 starts.
3 non-finishes in 28 entries, 11%, behind only Alpine and Racing Bulls. The whole grid is counted in every 2026 F1 retirement.
503 points, 145 clear of Ferrari in the constructors' championship.
How big is the advantage, really?
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 and Red Bull Ford cars have finished on the podium. What none of them has done this season is take a pole.
That pole record is the clearest measure of the engine. Qualifying is where every car runs the same fuel-light, full-power lap, and every one of the fourteen pole laps has come from a Mercedes-powered car. Why the works team in particular has been so strong over one lap is measured in Mercedes took 10 of the first 13 poles.
Two drivers, one car
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:
Kimi AntonelliMercedes · Italian Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 16:12:37 local
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, eight wins and 292 points, 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.
Where it has gone wrong
Only three times in twenty-eight entries: Russell's battery failure while leading in Canada, Antonelli's apparent power unit failure four laps from the end in Barcelona, and Russell's first lap exit at Spa. The team also had to take a grid penalty at Monza for exceeding its power unit allowance, which is why Antonelli started nineteenth.
What is left
Nine rounds remain, starting with Baku on 26 September. With a 145 point lead in the constructors' championship and its two drivers first and second in the drivers' table, the team's remaining question is which of them wins it. The full table is in the 2026 standings.
What this measures, and what it does not
Results, poles and points come from Formula 1's official timing data and match the published championship standings after the Spanish Grand Prix.
The pole record measures the whole car, not only the engine. Mercedes-powered cars taking every pole 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.
Frequently asked questions
How many races have Mercedes won in 2026?
Ten of the first fourteen: eight for Kimi Antonelli and two for George Russell.
Why are Mercedes so fast in 2026?
The results point strongly to the power unit: every pole of 2026 has gone to a Mercedes-powered car, including McLaren and Alpine. Toto Wolff argues the advantage is small, with Red Bull holding the best combustion engine by the FIA's measure.
Who is leading the 2026 constructors' championship?
Mercedes, on 503 points after the Spanish Grand Prix, 145 ahead of Ferrari.
How many one-two finishes have Mercedes had in 2026?
Three: the Australian, Chinese and Italian Grands Prix.
Sources
Results, poles and points: Formula 1 timing data via FastF1, matching the published standings after the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix
Every radio message quoted: our own team radio archive
Follow the title fight inside one garage
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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Nineteen Chinese Grands Prix have been held in Shanghai since 2004. Lewis Hamilton won six, pole won twelve, and in 2026 Kimi Antonelli took the first win of his career there, at 19, with Hamilton on the podium for Ferrari for the first time. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
