The statistics indicating that Mercedes has relinquished its dominance in F1 2026

“To be honest, we’ve sounded like a broken record all year, discussing how tight and competitive this season is, even during our early winning streak,” remarked deputy team principal Bradley Lord on the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show. “The evidence supports that.”

“We observed Ferrari enhancing their car prior to or around Baku, and Red Bull doing likewise. We introduced our update in Malaysia and have seen varying degrees of success with those changes. In the last two races, both Red Bull and Ferrari have shown greater competitiveness compared to earlier events.”

Average gap to pole position

“We recognize we’re in for a serious challenge,” Lord added, “and it’s crucial we continue learning to extract performance from the car so we can approach the upcoming races with confidence, ready to compete for wins and maintain the two-car points-scoring needed to convert our hard work this year into the results we’re striving for, especially given the chaotic nature of the last triple-header.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes

It certainly was a ‘chaotic triple-header’, with Antonelli crashing during qualifying in Baku and George Russell experiencing a power unit failure in Malaysia, resulting in him exceeding his quota in Singapore and starting that race from the back; the Briton ultimately crashed out of the sprint while in the lead.

To exacerbate Mercedes’ difficulties, the latest W17 update hasn’t yielded the expected improvements compared to its competitors – leading to a more balanced performance among the top teams and Red Bull's resurgence to victory. The 2026 season marks just the second instance since 1990 where four teams have each secured multiple wins (Mercedes 11, Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull two), following a similar trend in 2024.

When asked who might emerge as the team to beat in Austin, deputy technical director Simone Resta reflected: “It’s fascinating to see that with each race weekend, there’s uncertainty about who will be the strongest contender.”

“Based on what we’ve observed thus far, Red Bull will undoubtedly be in contention for the top spot. They have performed strongly in several recent races and will continue to do so.”

“Ferrari has also shown competitive performance in various conditions. They might be slightly lacking to reach the top, but they remain very formidable.”

“We must not overlook McLaren. As the reigning world champion team, they’ve demonstrated in certain races this year that they can be the strongest, often with a significant margin.”

“There’s a strong possibility that all these teams will be competitive, which adds to the excitement for us. We will aim to extract even more from our package, optimizing our setup to return to the top as we did in Baku, Monza, and during our victory in Madrid. We believe we can achieve that again.”