Mercedes-Benz has published its latest motorsport round-up, and the headline number is eight: eight grand prix victories in the first eleven races of the new 2026 rules era, and the lead in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. The update also covers the competition debut of the new Official FIA F1 Safety Car at Zandvoort, a third straight IMSA GTD win for Winward Racing and a milestone for a customer team run by Kimi Antonelli’s father. Technical director James Allison, however, is not entirely satisfied with the points tally.
Eight wins and two championship leads
The 2026 season opened on 8 March in Melbourne, where George Russell won and team-mate Kimi Antonelli joined him on the podium at the first race under the new regulations. Across the opening eleven grands prix the pair added seven further victories, and six months on the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team tops both the drivers’ and the constructors’ standings. Returning from the summer break at Zandvoort, the team recorded its second-best points haul of the year so far.
That position comes with a caveat from within the team. Technical director James Allison says the car should have delivered more.
“If someone had offered us this position before the start of the season, I would have taken it immediately. But given how competitive the car we have had this year is, I think we should have scored more points than we have. At the same time, it means we are looking forward to the second half of the season and to the chance of making up for some of those missed opportunities.”
His view of what happens next is straightforward: “If we can keep improving the car while also delivering clean execution and reliability, we will put ourselves in the strongest possible position for the final stretch of the championship.” Recent seasons have shown how quickly even a substantial advantage can evaporate.
The new safety car goes to work
Five weeks after being presented in Hungary as the new Official FIA F1 Safety Car, the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 PRO 4MATIC+ made its competitive debut at the Dutch Grand Prix. It had not been called upon in Hungary. At Zandvoort, Bernd Mayländer led the field through the formation lap because of a damp track surface, then completed a further lap after the early race stoppage to bring the 21 remaining cars back to their grid positions safely.
Mercedes quotes the GT 63 PRO 4MATIC+ at a combined 14.1 l/100 km (about 16.7 mpg US) and combined CO₂ emissions of 319 g/km, CO₂ class G, measured under WLTP.
A trophy handover with a DTM connection
Mercedes-AMG Performance driver Maro Engel, currently leading the DTM standings, presented the Pirelli Pole Position Award on the Saturday at Zandvoort to reigning world champion Lando Norris, who took pole and went on to win the race.
“It was a special honour to hand the Pirelli Pole Position Award to Lando Norris. The initiative came about through the DTM. As the current DTM championship leader I was allowed to take on this special task, which of course pleased me a lot. Pirelli is also the DTM’s tyre partner, and I think it’s nice that a connection between the DTM and Formula 1 can be made this way.”
250 GT3 starts for AKM Motorsport
The sixth round of the 2026 Italian GT Championship runs at Imola from 4 to 6 September, and there AKM Motorsport reaches its 250th race outing with a Mercedes-AMG GT3. The team belongs to Marco Antonelli, father of Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli, and was founded in 1993 as Antonelli Motorsport with a Peugeot 106. It moved from touring cars to the WTCC, entered GT racing in 2007 and has campaigned Mercedes-AMG machinery since 2019, including in the International GT Open, the Italian GT Championship and the GT Winter Series. Marco Antonelli has contested 14 races in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 himself.
Asked why he chose Affalterbach in 2019, he points to the cars being quick with professionals and amateurs alike, easy to drive, and backed by customer racing support he rates among the best worldwide after working with many manufacturers. He also argues that GT racing is too often treated as a career epilogue rather than a starting point, and calls for every manufacturer to run or invest in an academy programme. His own ambition is more personal: racing alongside his son one day. Kimi Antonelli drove two races for the family team in 2023 and won on his Italian GT outing with the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Winward Racing takes over the IMSA GTD lead
Philip Ellis and Russell Ward moved to the top of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD standings after winning the eighth round of the season at Virginia International Raceway, Ellis making the decisive pass seven minutes from the finish. It is a third consecutive GTD win for the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 following Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America, and with two rounds left the 2024 and 2025 champions lead both the drivers’ and teams’ classifications. Mercedes-AMG also heads the manufacturers’ table.
DTM: a record podium and a junior visit
Tom Kalender finished second in the Sunday race at the Nürburgring to become the youngest driver ever to stand on a DTM podium. “Being on the podium in the DTM was a childhood dream of mine. The most emotional thing about it is how quickly everything has happened,” the Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf driver said, adding that four years ago he was still karting.
The same weekend, young drivers from ADAC Motorsport Team Germany — among them Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior Devin Titz — were given access to the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing garage during qualifying, took part in a pit-stop challenge and had lunch with record DTM champion Bernd Schneider, sporting director Thomas Jäger and Performance drivers Lucas Auer and Maro Engel.
The next IMSA round takes place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 18 to 20 September, before the season closes with the ten-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta from 30 September to 3 October.
Source: media.mercedes-benz.com