Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the team does not have enough budget remaining to match the upgrade pace of McLaren and Ferrari.
Lando Norris’s second consecutive victory at the Dutch Grand Prix underscored McLaren’s momentum, as Mercedes again struggled to match their rivals’ race package. After opening the season with six straight wins, Mercedes have managed just two victories in the last six rounds. Their early dominance in qualifying has faded as well, with Norris now taking pole at the past two grands prix.
Wolff explained that Mercedes chose to spread its development spend across the season rather than react immediately to rivals’ upgrades.
“We haven’t got the money to put developments on the car,” Wolff said. “We are trying to evenly split that through the season based on our calculations of when we can bring the biggest updates and optimising the championship points. But we just can’t do what we can’t do.”
Mercedes lose the qualifying ground that shaped their early season
Nowhere is the shift in the pecking order clearer than in qualifying. Mercedes still hold an average advantage of 0.316 seconds over Ferrari across the season, with McLaren another 0.041 seconds behind, but those numbers hide a much tighter battle since Monaco.
Before the Canadian Grand Prix in late May, Mercedes were 0.453 seconds per lap quicker than McLaren and 0.489 seconds faster than Ferrari. Since Monaco, the gap has shrunk to 0.163 seconds over Ferrari and 0.270 seconds over McLaren. Red Bull have also closed in, cutting their deficit from 0.813 seconds before Canada to 0.353 seconds over the last six races.
| Team | New parts fitted since start of season | Qualifying gap to Mercedes over past six races |
|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | 24 | N/A |
| Red Bull | 37 | 0.353 seconds |
| McLaren | 38 | 0.270 seconds |
| Ferrari | 40 | 0.163 seconds |
The raw number of upgrades doesn’t tell the whole story, parts vary in cost, and the FIA’s declared-upgrades list only covers visible changes. Still, the trend is clear: Mercedes have introduced 24 new parts this season, while Red Bull have brought 37, McLaren 38, and Ferrari 40.
That shift has changed the shape of race weekends. Mercedes once built its advantage from pole, taking 10 consecutive poles in the first 10 races. Now, that control is gone. In Hungary, the fastest Mercedes qualified lower than second for the first time, with Max Verstappen ahead of Kimi Antonelli, and Norris then beating Antonelli in Zandvoort.
Antonelli receives Russell’s position as Mercedes chase Norris
Late in Zandvoort, Mercedes turned to team orders in a last-ditch effort to keep Antonelli’s victory hopes alive. Antonelli, still leading the championship despite missing out on both the sprint and main race wins, switched to soft tyres for a final push at Norris.
The gamble didn’t pay off. Antonelli soon caught George Russell, who was running ahead, and after a series of radio exchanges, Mercedes told Russell to move aside. Antonelli got through, but the reshuffle made no difference at the front.
Norris, now up to fourth in the drivers’ standings and 83 points behind Antonelli, watched the replay in the cool-down room and couldn’t resist a dig as Russell yielded.
“What a move!” Norris said.
Mercedes are not expected to bring major upgrades to the W17 until Formula 1 heads overseas again, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at the beginning of October, according to reports.
