(Motorsport-Total.com) – The 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix provided plenty of discussion material for Mercedes. George Russell finished third on the podium, Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed strong performance over long stretches and, in the opinion of many observers, even had the higher pace.
Read more Despite DNF in Barcelona: World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli retrospectively penalized
Nevertheless, the team left the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the question of whether they had deprived themselves of an even better starting position through the internal team duel.
While Lewis Hamilton secured his first Grand Prix victory in a Ferrari since moving to the Scuderia, Russell and Antonelli battled each other multiple times. The duel was tough but fair – yet, in Mercedes’ own assessment, it cost valuable time. Team principal Toto Wolff believes that the handling of such situations could be re-evaluated in the future.
Wolff: “We lost five or six seconds”
Especially in the middle phase of the race, Russell and Antonelli gave each other little breathing room. The Italian was visibly faster multiple times and put pressure on his teammate before finally pulling off a spectacular overtaking maneuver.
In retrospect, Wolff was asked whether Mercedes might have waited too long to intervene or let Antonelli pass. The Austrian first clarifies that there was no team order at all. “We didn’t swap them,” Wolff emphasizes. “We let them race.”
At the same time, however, the Mercedes team principal admits to Sky that the internal dispute had its price. “I believe we probably lost five or six seconds with the two of them, with how they fought.”
Did they hand Lewis Hamilton the victory?
“When they fight each other, that’s good,” explains Wolff. “You can be very sporting about it.” But this is exactly where the trade-off begins. “When you’re fighting against someone else, then sometimes you might have to let the faster one go.”
Wolff thus suggests that Mercedes could be more flexible in handling internal team position battles in the future. The team’s philosophy in recent years has always been clear: as long as both drivers treat each other fairly, they are allowed to race freely. However, Barcelona could now be an occasion to adapt this stance, at least in certain situations.
Particularly painful from Mercedes’ perspective is the realization that Hamilton may have directly benefited from the situation. Already in the first stint, Antonelli had put pressure on the Ferrari driver. Russell observed the scene attentively from the cockpit.
“At one point, I expected Kimi to overtake Lewis,” the Brit reveals. But it didn’t happen. “I looked at the TV screens and Lewis seemed to have everything under control.”
Later, a virtual safety car period also allowed Hamilton to consolidate his position. Russell therefore does not believe that the internal team duel alone decided the outcome of the race. “That cost us some time,” he explains. “But Lewis would probably have stayed ahead of us with the VSC anyway.”
Russell sees Hamilton’s victory as deserved
The Mercedes driver therefore relativizes the influence of the internal duel. “He came out ahead of us again with about a two-second lead. We probably lost about a second.” One thing in particular impressed him. “He just had really strong pace today. That was impressive to see.”
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Russell thus indirectly contradicts the thesis that Mercedes gave away the victory solely through tactical errors or the internal duel. Rather, he acknowledges that Hamilton and Ferrari simply had an exceptionally strong package available in Barcelona.
Ralf Schumacher also expressed his impression of the Ferrari’s performance in conversation with Wolff. “The Ferrari pace that Lewis was able to achieve today with the update, that was another world,” the Sky expert noted.
Wolff believes: Antonelli could have beaten Hamilton
Nevertheless, Mercedes is left with the feeling that at least Antonelli could have had the means for a victory. “I do believe Kimi could have won,” says Wolff. However, the Italian never got into the decisive position.
“He never got the opportunity.” Instead, his race ended a few laps before the finish with a technical defect. “In the end, it was a retirement,” says Wolff. “A retirement is a retirement.” Even additional speed wouldn’t have changed that. “It wouldn’t have helped if you could have driven a bit faster.”
Antonelli: “We had really strong pace”
The Italian himself partially shares this assessment. “We had really strong pace,” Antonelli explains after the race. It was particularly frustrating that opportunities to overtake were difficult to come by on a track like Barcelona.
“Today it was very difficult to follow another car.” The high temperatures had further exacerbated the situation. “The tires overheated very badly and the car immediately started to slide when you drove close behind another car.”
Nevertheless, Antonelli sees a missed opportunity. “In the second stint, I also had an opportunity,” he says. “If I had gotten that chance, it could have been a different race.”
Spectacular maneuver as the highlight of the race
At least Antonelli was able to demonstrate his speed later in the race. “When I got the opportunity, I took it,” he says about his overtaking maneuver against Russell. The later retirement was all the more bitter.
“Of course, it hurts when the problem occurs only three or four laps before the end,” says Antonelli. However, he doesn’t want to dwell on the incident. “It is what it is. That’s part of racing. Now we focus on the next race.”
The greater consequence could, in any case, follow at a strategic level. Wolff confirmed after the race that the situation is already being discussed internally. “It’s a situation we need to look at for the future.”
It’s not about restricting Antonelli or Russell. Rather, it needs to be defined how to deal with significant speed differences when a victory is at stake. “If we are fighting for a win and risk losing that win, then that will be an interesting discussion.”
Read more Retirement in Barcelona: Technical defect costs Antonelli second place