Mercedes finds no clear fault after Russell and Antonelli spin in Brazil
NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 10, 2026
Mercedes mystery grows
Mercedes left Brazil with more questions than answers after George Russell and Kimi Antonelli both spun in the race and the team could not find a clear fault in the data. The problem showed up when the grand prix moved from intermediate tyres to slicks, a change that left both cars dealing with strange handling and balance issues. Russell finished fourth and Antonelli came home fifth, but the incidents turned a strong afternoon into one that raised fresh concern inside the team. Mercedes will keep digging before Las Vegas, searching for the root cause behind the loss of control that hit both cars in different parts of the race. The double-spin also marked Brazil as Mercedes’ first race of the 2026 season without a podium, even though the team had already wrapped up the constructors’ championship with three rounds to spare. That mix of a title already secured and a clear drop in performance gave the weekend an unusual feel. Mercedes had the result it needed over the season, but the pace and stability issues in Brazil made the team leave with unfinished business. The fact that both drivers ran into trouble after the tyre switch sharpened the focus on setup, pressure and suspension-related possibilities, even if the data did not deliver an immediate answer.
Antonelli spins from lead
Antonelli’s race unravelled in the most striking way. He was leading by eight seconds early in the race, then spun on slick tyres and lost a commanding position that had put him in control of the Brazilian Grand Prix. He said the car felt strange before the rear stepped out without warning, and described the machine as “steering by itself.” Antonelli said the car was unstable mainly in left-hand corners and high-speed sections, and he asked Mercedes to check for a possible rear-geometry problem. He also received a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit-lane release, another blow to a day that changed quickly after he had built such a strong lead. After the race, he said he was “very angry” and “very disappointed,” then added that he put those feelings aside because Mercedes secured its ninth Constructors’ Championship. That reaction underlined the split in his day, one part frustration over the spin and another part satisfaction that the team had already achieved its biggest season goal. Even with the title in hand, Antonelli’s comments pointed to a car that lost its edge when the conditions changed, and he made clear that the issue did not feel like a simple driving error. The combination of the spin, the penalty and the sudden loss of grip turned his afternoon into a detailed case study for Mercedes as it searches for the source of the problem.
Russell and Wolff assess
Russell and team boss Toto Wolff offered more clues about where Mercedes thinks the issue may have started. Wolff said Mercedes may have got something wrong with tyre pressures or setup, and he pointed to the state of the tyres as a possible warning sign. He said the rear tyres were heavily worn while the front tyres looked nearly new, a mismatch that fed the suspicion of a suspension issue. That reading fits with the broader picture from the race, where the cars seemed to lose their balance after the switch from intermediate tyres to slicks and then struggled to hold steady through the rest of the afternoon. Russell said Mercedes lost competitiveness in the wet final stint and believed the first cars onto intermediates may have overheated the tyres on the out lap. That left the team with two separate strands to review, one tied to the tyre change and another tied to how the car behaved once conditions shifted again. The pattern gave Mercedes a technical puzzle rather than a single obvious mistake, which is why the team said it could not find a clear fault in the data after the race. For now, the story from Brazil is not about a missed result alone. It is about a team that won the championship, then hit a weekend in which both drivers spun, one from the lead and one in the pit lane exit area, and the next step is to understand why the car turned unstable when the race changed character.
