Mercedes revealed the reasons for the ‘very painful’ reliability problems after the retirement of George Russell, Kimi Antonelli | F1 News

Mercedes believe they understand the reasons for their “very painful” reliability problems so far this season as they work to introduce fixes as the 2026 campaign progresses.

The world championship leaders have suffered costly failures to finish the race for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in two of the last three events.

Russell retired while leading last month’s Canadian Grand Prix, while Antonelli retired with three laps to go when running second in last Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Mercedes’ customer teams, particularly McLaren, also experienced powertrain problems in the early months of the new era of engine and chassis regulations.

And while the problems weren’t exactly the same, technical director James Allison believes they’ve gotten to the heart of the biggest battery-related problems.

“I think anyone who watched this game will have seen that this is slowing down the Mercedes engine cars this season,” said Allison on the team’s Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show.

“They are not all the same, but they come from the same broad part of the battery. And I think that many areas of risk have been understood and, with a little luck, when we start to sort out the category of new modules in the racing season – we call the battery a ‘module’ – then our wealth as ships should take.

“Obviously for us, that’s an important thing. These DNFs are very painful.”

On how they continue to measure the car’s performance and reliability, Allison said: “You accept that there will be failures.

“We’re trying to make sure that failures happen in tests or rigs and that they happen as little as possible when you’re out there trying to get championship points.

“Now, obviously, it doesn’t always work because sometimes the car will be a DNF and that’s a failure of our process and all our efforts to deliver performance without the downside of that performance.

“But when a failure like this happens, first of all, and maybe before it’s fully understood, the team will tend to take a small step back to be more careful with the equipment, to push it a little bit, just to give a little more stability to the kit that is obviously suffering.

“But a different part of the team will try to find out what was the cause of that failure to formulate that, prove that, and then bring something back to the table that is strong enough.”

“So you do the first intervention which is just to try to plan to give the thing at risk an easy life while working on the right treatment, which allows you to be really successful.”

Allison is confident that Mercedes will bounce back after Ferrari’s development gains

Even before Antonelli went off the track in the closing stages when his W17 lost power, Mercedes were set for their first race day defeat of the season in Barcelona.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton combined strong speed and tire control with a well-timed Virtual Safety Car strategy to break into the lead of the race, eventually winning by 19.6s from Russell.

Hamilton also moved within ten points of Russell on Saturday in Ferrari’s most competitive show of the season so far.

This comes after the Scuderia unveiled a major upgrade to its car in Spain at the weekend while rivals, including Mercedes, introduced minor additions.

Allison believes the competition schedule will continue to be heavily influenced by the season’s development race – but is confident that Mercedes, who lead both world championships, have the ability to push forward.

“I think what you’re seeing a lot of there are very little rules,” Allison said.

“Our car has been introduced slowly to other teams, which is the start we have been able to maintain in many races. But the fact that the rules are so small means that it is easy at the moment, because the rules have not been tested as much as possible, to find a game.

“And the significant development package equals the gap we had between our car and the others at the start of the season.

“So if Ferrari brings an improvement package to a race that none of us have responded to, it will close the gap that used to feel comfortable and I think that’s what we’re seeing a lot of.

“Yes, we don’t have guns in this war and, in time, our car will get its upgrade.

“As long as we can keep the factory economy down and use it when we think it’s enough to do so and it’s convenient for us to do so, we should be able to regain the profit we were getting at the beginning of the year if our progress in the factory is the same as everyone else’s.”

Mercedes leads Ferrari by 72 points in the Constructors’ Championship, with Antonelli 41 points ahead of Hamilton and 50 points ahead of Russell in the drivers’ championship, with the Austrian Grand Prix next week.

Austrian GP schedule for Sky Sports F1

Thursday June 25
2pm: Drivers press conference
5pm: Paddock Uncut

Friday June 26
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Austrian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
1.55pm: F3 Qualification
2.30pm: Club management press conference
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Austrian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday June 27
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Austrian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Austrian GP qualifying build-up*
3pm: AUSTRIAN GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Worthy Booklet

Sunday June 28
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: F2 Feature Race
10.50am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Austrian GP build-up: Sunday’s Grand Prix*
2pm: THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Austrian GP reaction: Checkered flag
5pm: Ted’s notebook

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

The European Formula 1 season continues with the Austrian Grand Prix on June 26-28, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports NOW – no contract, cancel anytime