Mercedes no longer have the fastest car in F1, says leader Antonelli

By AP and Reuters. Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026.

Key points

• This person is 83 points behind Antonelli, with 11 rounds remaining unless the situation in the Middle East forces a calendar change.
• McLaren have taken a major step forward and Mercedes no longer have the quickest car in Formula One, championship leader Kimi Antonelli stated after the Dutch Grand Prix.
• Antonelli, who turns 20 on Tuesday, faces another obstacle in his quest to become F1's youngest-ever champion.
• Mercedes boss Toto Wolff remarked cost cap restrictions meant Mercedes did not have the capital to implement developments on the car as rapidly as they might want.
• Nevertheless, Norris, who lost out to Antonelli at the race restart and then had to overtake him on track, questioned that assertion.

McLaren's reigning champion Lando Norris celebrated his second win in a row from pole position at Zandvoort on Sunday, with Antonelli and Mercedes teammate George Russell finishing second and third, ahead of Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

"We're clearly not the fastest car any more on the grid, " remarked Antonelli. This person won five races in a row earlier in the season.

"We're probably second or third, at least in today's race, and McLaren has taken a huge step, especially since Hungary, since the big upgrade package they brought."

"I don't think it's true. I think if I didn't obtain Kimi when I overtook him, I don't think I would have won the race, " he stated.

For once, I would offer myself a little bit of credit that I feel like I'm doing a better job than everyone, and I think that can additionally create a difference.

"We certainly have a car now capable of beating them. But I think they have a better all-round performing car than what we do."

Zandvoort, and Budapest's Hungaroring before that, played to McLaren's strengths but some of the tracks coming up may be less favourable.

While Antonelli faces hefty grid penalties for an engine change, ferrari can be projected to go well at their home Grand Prix at Monza early next month, with upgrades in the pipeline.

Mercedes are still way ahead of Ferrari and McLaren in the constructors' championship and scored more points – 46 to McLaren's 43 and Ferrari's 31 – than anyone else over the weekend.

"We have a solid car in certain areas. It's not like last year where we were pretty good everywhere, " remarked Norris.

We're particularly, highly solid in high speed, and that's the place we've improved the car the most, is high-speed performance. No one matches us in high speed, and that's a good thing.

"But the advantage that they have to us in slow speed is additionally crazy. And therefore, I don't have the confidence to say 'yeah, I can easily fight for a championship for the rest of the season'."

"I know I've just won two races in a row and had two poles in a row, but at the minute I don't have the car I need to fight for a championship, " continued the Briton. This person is 83 points behind Antonelli, with 11 rounds remaining unless the situation in the Middle East forces a calendar change.

"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, " he remarked to journalists.

"So the ride has been a bit tougher than at the beginning of the year."

McLaren principal Andrea Stella remarked he anticipated Mercedes to accelerate their car's development regardless.

"I'm sure their car in the wind tunnel is quite a bit faster than the car they have on track, " remarked the Italian.

"And they will want to now convert some of this potential into upgrades that create it to the real car. I'm just pretty sure that they will have upgrades." Antonelli will take grid penalty at home race.

He will need to take a hefty grid penalty at his home Italian Grand Prix in two weeks as Mercedes plan to swap his car's power unit to head off potential reliability challenges in the second half of the season. That will put Antonelli over his allowance of key components for the year.

"Our theory, our calculations say that that's the best track to take it. Obviously, our algorithms don't take the nationality into consideration, " Wolff remarked. "We're here to fight for a championship and not the most PR, so that's what we're going to do."

Monza is a high-speed track where the Mercedes engine is projected to be robust, and overtaking is relatively straightforward, giving Antonelli a chance to produce up places. He has accepted the decision.

"I think it still will give me a chance to do a great result and bring home good points, " he remarked.

In short, mercedes no longer have the fastest car in F1, says leader Antonelli is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.