Fourth and Fifth Was Enough: Mercedes Are Constructors' Champions Again

Fourth and fifth. Nobody at Brackley would pick those results for a title-winning afternoon. Nobody in silver will care by Monday morning, either.

Mercedes are the 2026 Formula 1 constructors' champions. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli crossed the line fourth and fifth in a soaking, scrappy São Paulo Grand Prix, banking 22 points to Ferrari's eight. The result seals the team's ninth teams' crown with three rounds still to run. The wait since 2021 is over.

Five seasons. Felt longer, I'd wager, for the people inside the factory.

The sums, and how close Sunday came to going sideways

The maths going into the weekend was simple. Mercedes arrived in Brazil on 630 points against Ferrari's 504, and the Silver Arrows needed to outscore Ferrari by three points to finish the job.

Ferrari did most of the damage to themselves before Sunday started. Charles Leclerc took a 10 place drop for fitting a fifth combustion engine. Lewis Hamilton, on his 400th Grand Prix start, fared far worse. His engine failed in final practice, Ferrari swapped the whole power unit, and his total penalty climbed to 75 places. Hamilton started 20th. Leclerc started 14th.

The door was wide open, then. Mercedes still tried their best to slam the thing on their own fingers.

The race began on intermediates. Antonelli, seven days into life as world champion, led early before spinning at turn one and gifting the lead to Lando Norris. He complained about the suspension. The team blamed tyre temperatures in the changing conditions. Russell then produced a spin of his own and ended up facing backwards at the pit exit after a stop. Two pirouettes in one afternoon from the team about to win the title. Nobody would dare script such a thing.

Rain got heavier from lap 57. Around lap 62 a batch of drivers, Russell among them, gambled on intermediates again, and both Mercedes cars reported problems late on. The pit wall told Antonelli to let his teammate through into fourth so Russell might chase a podium. No podium came. Russell finished 33.991 seconds behind the winner, with Antonelli a further two seconds back. Didn't matter.

Ferrari's recovery drives fell well short. Leclerc climbed seven places to finish seventh for six points. Hamilton gained 11 spots on his milestone start and took ninth, a lap down, for two more. Eight points in total. Mercedes needed Ferrari to stay within 19 of their own haul. Ferrari ended up 14 short of matching Mercedes.

The table now reads 652 to 512. A 140 point gap, with a maximum of 129 still on offer. Done.

Norris turned pole into his third win of the year, 14.602 seconds clear at the flag. Max Verstappen started from the back and finished second, a familiar trick at Interlagos, given he won here from 17th on the grid in 2024. Isack Hadjar finished third to give Red Bull two cars on the podium.

Two titles in seven days

Last Sunday in Mexico City, Antonelli finished third and became the youngest champion in Formula 1 history at 20. He wasn't celebrating for long. In the build-up to Brazil he told reporters "we have still got to win the constructors' championship" (Reuters via The Star).

Now he has both. Brazil also completes Mercedes' first drivers' and constructors' double since 2020.

Antonelli wore a helmet honouring Ayrton Senna this weekend, marking 35 years since Senna's first home win at Interlagos. A neat touch, on a weekend when he wobbled more than he'd like.

Spring did the heavy lifting

Here's the thing about this title. Mercedes won most of the title before the summer break.

One-two finishes in Australia and China, then another win in Japan, left the team on 135 points after three rounds. By the Austrian Grand Prix in late June, Russell's second win of the season had stretched the gap at the top of the table to 98 points. Going into Brazil, Mercedes had won 12 of the 19 Grands Prix this year.

The second half was messier. Reliability problems crept in, and Ferrari outscored Mercedes across the four race weekends before Interlagos. A 126 point cushion soaks up a lot of bad Sundays, though.

Team policy played a part too. With Antonelli leading the drivers' standings in August, the team refused to impose team orders. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord put the priority bluntly, saying "the team comes first, and the Constructors' Championship is the primary focus" (Grande Prêmio).

Did the policy cost Russell a proper shot at the drivers' title? Perhaps. He leaves Brazil fourth in the standings on 262 points, well adrift of his teammate. Toto Wolff admitted before the race "we have not always given him the car to perform" (RacingNews365). An honest line from a team boss. Russell deserves a share of this trophy, whatever the drivers' table says.

The lean years, in four numbers

Mercedes won eight consecutive constructors' titles from 2014 to 2021. Then the ground effect rules arrived, and the team lost its way. Here's where Mercedes finished in the four seasons since:

• 2022: third
• 2023: second
• 2024: fourth
• 2025: second

Wolff has pushed back on the idea of a collapse. In an interview with RacingNews365 he argued the drought wasn't catastrophic, given the scale of the rule change and the title fights Mercedes stayed close to. Fair enough. Second place still stings at a team built to win, though, and everyone in the paddock knew the 2026 reset was Mercedes' best shot at a comeback.

The shot landed.

What's left to play for

Three rounds remain: Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. With both titles decided, attention shifts to second place in the drivers' standings, a fight covered by 16 points before Sunday. Verstappen's charge to second has opened a gap. He now sits on 279 points, with Russell on 262 and Hamilton on 261.

At Brackley, minds have already drifted to next year. Wolff confirmed in September work on the 2027 car started before the summer break. Champagne tonight, wind tunnel tomorrow.