Mercedes still leads the 2026 world championships, but Charles Leclerc’s victory at Silverstone has clearly changed the perception of the threat posed by Scuderia Ferrari.
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The success of the Monegasque at Silverstone confirmed the progress made by the Scuderia, which had introduced an upgrade to its power unit in Austria. On a circuit that was theoretically supposed to highlight its weaknesses, Ferrari ultimately proved to be particularly competitive.
For Mercedes, the challenge now is to maintain its level of performance and above all to avoid reliability issues and missed opportunities that have marked several races this season.
Wolff: “We must focus on ourselves”
Toto Wolff believes that Mercedes must above all worry about its own performance rather than constantly monitor Ferrari’s progress: “We must focus on ourselves. Before the weekend, Ferrari said they would lack energy on this circuit, but that was not the case. They were strong opponents and we must expect this to continue for the rest of the season.”
Mercedes, however, has with the W17 one of the most versatile cars on the grid. But several technical problems have prevented the team from fully exploiting its potential.
Kimi Antonelli notably retired in Spain due to a battery problem, before a new mechanical incident ruined his chances of victory at Silverstone. George Russell also retired while leading the Canadian Grand Prix.
Mercedes favors small upgrades
Unlike Ferrari, which has already introduced two major upgrade packages on its SF-26, Mercedes prefers to gradually improve its car.
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Andrew Shovlin, track engineering director, confirmed that this strategy will not change: “We continue to bring performance to the W17. We have not introduced a huge package like some of our competitors, but every week, we try to improve the car to maintain our lead.”
One of Mercedes’ main strengths remains the ability of its car to be competitive on circuits with very different characteristics: “We are lucky to have a car that works on a wide variety of circuits. Well, it’s probably not just luck. I think we have done a good job designing a car capable of performing on different types of tracks.”
Shovlin nevertheless emphasizes the importance of the preparation work done before each Grand Prix: “A lot of work is done upstream to ensure that the car is immediately in the right operating window and that we can be competitive.”
Spa, next big challenge
The progress made in Monaco and Austria, two circuits historically difficult for Mercedes, has notably reassured the team: “We recently raced on circuits like Monaco and Austria, which have been difficult for us in recent years. It was very positive to manage to reverse this trend.”
Mercedes is now turning to the Belgian Grand Prix, where energy management should play a particularly important role: “Spa is a really special and difficult circuit from an energy point of view. So we have a lot of work to do to be immediately competitive.”
While Ferrari pursues an aggressive development strategy, Mercedes remains faithful to a more progressive approach. A philosophy that has allowed the German team to maintain the advantage so far, but Ferrari’s victory at Silverstone confirmed that the fight for the championships could become much tighter during the second half of the season.
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