Mercedes has revealed it will attempt to avoid team orders, as its priority is the Constructors’ Championship despite Andrea Kimi Antonelli leading the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship.
Mercedes’ dominance at the very start of the 2026 season led fans to believe the title fight would ultimately be between the two teammates. However, as the first half of the season progressed, George Russell’s pace took a hit, and he has been plagued by bad luck over several race weekends, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli continued to prosper.
Despite a few misfortunes, such as reliability and aerodynamic issues, and technical failures, which led to one retirement and a low P15 finish for Antonelli, the teenager has been going strong this season.
Heading into the summer break with 219 points, six victories, and three additional podiums, the Italian leads the Drivers’ Championship.
While it may be that Antonelli has been the driver to beat this season, the Mercedes team insists it is not interested in implementing team orders.
Deputy Team Principal Bradley Lord explained the team’s priority and said: “The simple principle is, if a Mercedes can win the race, a Mercedes must win the race, and that’s what comes first.
“The team comes first, and the Constructors’ Championship is the team’s primary focus and primary objective.”
Speaking of the 2026 season’s fight for the title, Lord said: “We’ve seen the fight swing, sort of all the way out to the point where I think all of you know it was being written that there was only one possible winner of the championship, and then, in the space of three races, we’ve seen that swing completely the other way as well.”
Championship and the swing of momentum
The teenager has been on top thus far, but as the first half of the season progressed, Mercedes’ strong momentum appeared to dip as their issues persisted, while other teams brought upgrades and made strides.
Up until Barcelona, the momentum looked to be on the Brackley-based team’s side. However, after that, their dominance faded, making way for Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and, most recently, Lando Norris to secure victories.
Talking about the title fight, Lord continued: “We’re at the halfway stage, and it’s far too early to even be thinking like that. We’re not focused on the ‘what if?’ scenario.”
Even with other teams improving, Mercedes’ strong start to the season helped it claim a big advantage. The team sits first in the Constructors’ fight with 379 points. That puts them 72 points ahead of Ferrari.
“We want to win both championships, absolutely, and we’ll give ourselves the best chance of doing that by getting two cars to the finish as often as possible in the highest possible positions that we can, which is what we’ve failed to do at every single race so far this year.”
“So that’s the focus: cars reliable, keep the cars fast, and then enable the drivers to keep it their best shot for winning the Drivers’ Championship,” Lord said.
“But as I say, that core principle: if a Mercedes can win, a Mercedes must win, and we don’t mind which of the two cars it is, and we will do what we need to do in order to ensure that the quickest of those cars on any given Sunday can do that. That’s the priority for us.”
Mercedes “had a slender advantage”
On the other hand, Russell sits third in the Standings. The Briton is 59 points behind Antonelli, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton separating the two Mercedes drivers.
Russell clinched two wins and three further podiums. But he also suffered two retirements and spent more weekends off the podium than on it.
Despite both Mercedes drivers experiencing their fair share of misfortune, the team looked miles ahead of their competitors in terms of race pace.
“It’s easy to use words like dominant, but I think, throughout the first part of the season, we’ve had a slender advantage at most races. Not always to the same team.”
While Mercedes perhaps no longer has as much of an advantage, the team has taken wins in eight out of eleven Grand Prix.
“I think the real source of satisfaction is that we’ve been up there and competitive at every type of circuit in every type of condition. That gap has waxed and waned a little bit, but we’ve been able to be there and fighting.”
Two-car finishes as target after summer break
In the recent weekends before the summer break, a pattern emerged. If one Mercedes did well, the other sat further back in the field. Regardless of whether Antonelli or Russell was at the front, the team seemed cursed by bad luck and technical issues.
Without these problems, Mercedes would likely still be dominating the pack.
Continuing to speak on the missed opportunities and the new targets, Lord expanded: “We would have been capable of winning each of the 10 races, although it hasn’t fallen that way owing to reliability issues and sometimes how we as the team manage the battle between the drivers as well.
“But overall, we certainly didn’t go into Melbourne thinking that we’d be sitting at the summer break with that sort of percentage of races won. To be honest, internally, I think the bigger focus is the 100 or so points that we can tot up and say that we’ve left those on the table.
“That’s the feeling; it’s one of opportunity missed. How can we get on top of the one-car finishes that we’ve had to make them into two-car finishes, reliably?
“Because if we can do that, then we should be in a stronger position in the championship in that regard, and that’s got to be the target for after the summer break.”
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