2026 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

[Badger]

George is now coming to terms that you need to adapt to win championships just like Lando said and you know what, he's right!

The only person to me who really made Kimi fight for certain wins is Lando.

It's not an adaptation issue. It's a slower driver issue. No amount of "adapting" would put Bottas on the level of Hamilton, likewise it's not going to happen for Russell.

You don't go from dominating your teammate to getting dominated by your teammate in one off-season, rookie or not. Kimi has developed but the majority of the difference is coming from driving style fit to these new cars vs old cars.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

Where is the news about Antonelli's contract? Have Ferrari have its foot in the door with a pre-contract?

[Sergej]

Praise to Kimi, but what kind of engine/car they are cooked in the beginning of the season, no engine update, not any recent major aero updates, and still easily winning the race from the back of the grid. Salut to James Allison and his crew!

They buildt a masterpiece for sure, but let's not forget Monza was the perfect track for them. Madring will probably be a different story. They still need upgrades in my view.

[maygun]

Praise to Kimi, but what kind of engine/car they are cooked in the beginning of the season, no engine update, not any recent major aero updates, and still easily winning the race from the back of the grid. Salut to James Allison and his crew!

They buildt a masterpiece for sure, but let's not forget Monza was the perfect track for them. Madring will probably be a different story. They still need upgrades in my view.

If the two races were not cancelled at the beginning of the season, I would say Mercedes would be okay even without updates from now on. In every race, there was at least one Mercedes on the Podium this season. Very curious about the Malaysia updates, but I have doubts that they will show all the developments they have, probably going to save some to the next year.

[zibby43]

Where is the news about Antonelli's contract? Have Ferrari have its foot in the door with a pre-contract?

He’s under contract for ‘26 and ‘27 with an option for ‘28.

https://www.spotrac.com/formula1/player ... -antonelli

There is zero need for extension talks at this point.

A few days ago, he said he’s open to spending his entire career at Mercedes because they’re the ones who believed in him and gave him an opportunity.

[Lasssept]

[MB_Racer]

Fabulous drive from Kimi but still can’t see how George is okay with not being the one to pit under a SC while being the one in front.

Good point !

I agree but then the other point to make is that the team called Kimi off him and he couldn't make use of that. Kimi was crawling all over him even when told to hold position.

Easy...Kimi would have won also by staying out. They would have just risked the win to Ver.
Rus on the other hand would have lost P2 by pitting.

[MB_Racer]

Praise to Kimi, but what kind of engine/car they are cooked in the beginning of the season, no engine update, not any recent major aero updates, and still easily winning the race from the back of the grid. Salut to James Allison and his crew!

Correct an absolute masterclass. However thank god it’s not so reliable sometimes

[Quantum]

A few days ago, he said he’s open to spending his entire career at Mercedes because they’re the ones who believed in him and gave him an opportunity.

Might be 3 years might be 10, but he'll be at Ferrari sooner or later.

[zibby43]

A few days ago, he said he’s open to spending his entire career at Mercedes because they’re the ones who believed in him and gave him an opportunity.

Might be 3 years might be 10, but he'll be at Ferrari sooner or later.

I thought the same regarding Verstappen and Mercedes.

[AR3-GP]

The W17 holds many secrets. Some hidden in plain sight. Others hidden in the radio.

[lio007]

The W17 holds many secrets. Some hidden in plain sight. Others hidden in the radio.

In the radio?

[aMessageToCharlie]

Good point !

I agree but then the other point to make is that the team called Kimi off him and he couldn't make use of that. Kimi was crawling all over him even when told to hold position.

Easy...Kimi would have won also by staying out. They would have just risked the win to Ver.
Rus on the other hand would have lost P2 by pitting.

This is based on nothing really.

You cannot predict RUS pace on new mediums with a light car as we know that there are big differences between stints. We see it all the time. As the leading driver he should have been given priority.

RUS had good pace on his final stint on the hard tire.

Had ANT stayed out instead, he would have needed to do the same 50 laps on the medium which means that his pace would most likely have suffered towards the end, while RUS would be hunting him down on fresh mediums.

Again, we can only speculate about the relative pace, but IMO it was obvious on lap 28 that making another stop was the superior strategy so MERC would have known this as well.

They threw RUS under the bus while Toto was hugging ANT's father.

I'm not saying that ANT didn't deserve the win, but it's also obvious that RUS is the black sheep and #2. He seems to have accepted his faith though, so it's fine.

[Farnborough]

Easy...Kimi would have won also by staying out. They would have just risked the win to Ver.
Rus on the other hand would have lost P2 by pitting.

This is based on nothing really.

You cannot predict RUS pace on new mediums with a light car as we know that there are big differences between stints. We see it all the time. As the leading driver he should have been given priority.

RUS had good pace on his final stint on the hard tire.

Had ANT stayed out instead, he would have needed to do the same 50 laps on the medium which means that his pace would most likely have suffered towards the end, while RUS would be hunting him down on fresh mediums.

Again, we can only speculate about the relative pace, but IMO it was obvious on lap 28 that making another stop was the superior strategy so MERC would have known this as well.

They threw RUS under the bus while Toto was hugging ANT's father.

I'm not saying that ANT didn't deserve the win, but it's also obvious that RUS is the black sheep and #2. He seems to have accepted his faith though, so it's fine.

They always knew (and why they selected Monza) that KA was going to need on the fly interpretation, dependent on what happened in race.
They must have formed their individual strategy prior (Toto indicated emphatically that a one stop was fastest in team understanding) and could have elected to not respond with GR part of planning simply to avoid wrong footing that side of team in reaction to what they didn't know with prediction.

It's going to come out somehow, but unrealistic to "configure " post race analysis to fit perception of loyalty.

That's just too far into woulda, coulda, shoulda, scenario.

The unwillingness to accept an outcome in fan analysis view, far too "football-ee" argument for many. Ooh it was a bad ref, ooh if someone didn't feed their cat synthetic sardines, where does it stop ?

[Lasssept]