Author Archives: PressBox

Mercedes’ 2026 title campaign is being shaped as much by reliability as by pace, with deputy team principal Bradley Lord saying grid penalties for George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli now seem “almost inevitable.” Mercedes has been pushed close to, or beyond, its planned power unit allocation after a run of failures and component changes, including Antonelli reaching the limit of several power unit parts by the Belgian Grand Prix and a water leak in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying that forced Russell onto his fourth internal combustion engine. Battery and control electronics failures also caused retirements for Russell in Canada and Antonelli in Barcelona.

The team still leads both championships after winning eight of the first 11 Grands Prix, but the gap has narrowed as rivals have closed in. Antonelli, the 19-year-old rookie, leads Russell by 59 points and is 50 points clear of Lewis Hamilton, while Mercedes is 72 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. Lord said it is too early to back one driver and that Mercedes’ first aim remains the constructors’ championship, with the team preferring to keep both cars competitive. He said that if a Mercedes can win a race, it must win the race.

Team principal Toto Wolff and technical director James Allison have said the second half of the season will be decided by development and race-day execution, but reliability may matter more than upgrades. Wolff said Mercedes has left points on the table and still has more performance to unlock, while Allison said the W17’s reliability problems and power unit issues have already cost points. With 12 races left and the season resuming at the Dutch Grand Prix, Wolff said one or two retirements could quickly change the championship picture, and Mercedes must balance upgrades, budget cap limits and the risk of more grid penalties.

The FIA’s International Court of Appeal is set to hear McLaren and Red Bull’s appeals on Aug. 25 in Paris over the Monaco Grand Prix podium dispute involving Pierre Gasly’s two pit-lane speeding penalties. The hearing, scheduled after the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, will review stewards’ decision to erase the penalties after the FIA said the Monaco pit-lane speed limit had been miscalculated or incorrectly measured, which lifted Gasly from seventh to third in the final classification.

Alpine successfully challenged the penalties after an error in the pit-lane timing loop system, with stewards later rescinding the two five-second penalties on June 12. That change pushed Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar out of a podium spot and altered McLaren’s Oscar Piastri’s finishing position, with sources differing on whether he ended up fourth or fifth. McLaren and Red Bull filed their appeals on June 16 and are seeking reinstatement of Gasly’s original penalties.

McLaren has argued the case raises a fairness issue because other in-race penalties, including those involving George Russell, Piastri, Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto, could not be undone or appealed. Mercedes withdrew its own appeal after Russell fell from third to 12th because of a drive-through penalty for not properly serving a penalty during the race.

Christian Horner planned a UK autumn speaking tour to promote his memoir, Drive, and said the events would let him revisit more than two decades in Formula 1 and his abrupt exit from Red Bull on his own terms. In a LinkedIn post, the former Red Bull Racing chief said the tour would cover the highs and lows of leading at the top of the sport, along with his career, rivalries and time in Formula 1.

The tour was set to include evening events in Nottingham, Bath, Glasgow, York and London, each with a live Q&A session. Tickets sold through Ticketmaster were priced at about £60 to £70 and included a copy of the book. Horner said fans would be able to ask questions directly during the shows.

Drive was due for release in October. Horner joined Red Bull in 2005 and became the youngest team principal in Formula 1 history at age 31. Under his leadership, Red Bull won six Constructors’ Championships, eight Drivers’ Championships and 124 Grand Prix victories. His Red Bull tenure ended in the summer of 2025, after the British Grand Prix, and Laurent Mekies replaced him on July 9, 2025.

Isack Hadjar was set to miss the Dutch GP at Zandvoort after injuring his wrist during training in the F1 summer break, though Red Bull had not formally confirmed he was out and his participation remained subject to a final assessment. Reports from the Netherlands and Racing Bulls said a change for the weekend was likely.

If Hadjar is ruled out, Liam Lawson is expected to return to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen, with Yuki Tsunoda likely to take Lawson’s seat at Racing Bulls. Earlier reports also named Tsunoda and Arvid Lindblad as options. Hadjar would have two weeks to recover before the Italian GP at Monza on Sept. 6.

Hadjar joined Red Bull after a strong 2025 rookie season with Racing Bulls and has scored 68 points in 11 races for the senior team this year, with a best finish of fourth in Monaco. He took his first F1 podium at Zandvoort a year earlier, finishing third. Lawson’s possible return to Zandvoort would echo his own 2023 debut there, when he replaced Daniel Ricciardo after Ricciardo broke his wrist in practice.