As Formula 1 heads into the second half of the 2026 season, two of Mercedes' closest rivals are sending clear messages: they are not giving up on the title fight.

Stella's momentum warning

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has issued a warning to his team's rivals, expressing confidence in the Woking squad's ability to maintain momentum once it has been gained. The reigning constructors' champions claimed a long-awaited first victory of the season in Hungary as Lando Norris dominated, beating Max Verstappen by 15 seconds.

"If we can continue the season as we did in Budapest, we can still achieve a great deal," Stella said. "To do so, we must keep pushing with the development of the MCL40 and ensure we outpace our rivals — who certainly aren't standing still — in this race within the race, which is the competition over updates."

Stella revealed that the Hungary upgrade package represented a "change of direction" in the car's development, prompted by a growing awareness during April's enforced break that the initial aerodynamic concept needed redirecting. The result was Norris's pole position and dominant race victory.

The Italian also praised McLaren's work with engine supplier Mercedes to optimise the power unit. "Over the past few months we've had the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the new power unit supplied by Mercedes HPP," he said. "It's been a long process, with its ups and downs, but one that's starting to bear fruit."

Stella pointed to last year's lessons as reason for hope. In 2025, Verstappen trailed Piastri by 104 points with nine rounds remaining, only to stage a remarkable fightback and finish just two points behind Norris. "There are still 12 races left on the calendar, so there are plenty of opportunities given that 546 points are up for grabs," Stella noted.

Vasseur: Ferrari must improve execution and engine

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has identified the areas where the Italian team must improve to keep Lewis Hamilton in the title fight. Hamilton sits 50 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, and while the gap is far from insurmountable, Mercedes' car has generally appeared to have a performance edge.

"The first half of the season was in stages," Vasseur said. "Until Spain, Mercedes was flying. After Spain, when we came back, we scored more points than Mercedes in the last four or five races."

Ferrari's Hungary weekend was a case of missed opportunity. Hamilton and Leclerc qualified well but strategic errors, soft tire choices, and Hamilton's latest pit-lane speeding penalty left them fourth and fifth. "Where do we have to improve? If I draw a conclusion based on Hungary, I would say execution," Vasseur admitted. "But execution so far was probably a good one for us from the beginning of the season."

The Frenchman was candid about Ferrari's power unit deficit: "We know that we have to improve on the engine side and we will do it. The inertia on the engine is much higher than on the chassis." Ferrari have already upgraded their engine once under the FIA's performance-balancing measures, but Vasseur insists the team must continue developing the chassis as well. "The most important thing will be to be able to keep the pace in the development," he said. "We have a different approach, trying to bring parts every race."

Mercedes' reliability crisis

While Mercedes leads both championships, the team has hemorrhaged points through reliability failures. F1.com's analysis estimates the team has lost at least 63 points across four key incidents:

• Canada (Russell, DNF): ~25 points lost. A battery failure ended Russell's race while he was battling Antonelli for the lead.
• Barcelona (Antonelli, DNF): ~18 points lost. An electrical shutdown ended his race while running second with five laps to go.
• Silverstone (Antonelli, P15): ~18 points lost. A wheel shield failure required two extra pit stops, with a track limits penalty compounding the damage.
• Hungary (Russell, P7): ~2 points lost. Anti-stall at the start dropped him from sixth to 21st; he recovered to seventh.

"It was an engine kill that was caused by a failure in the battery, which just suffered a catastrophic failure a third of the way into the race," Mercedes technical director James Allison explained of the Canada incident. Wolff labelled the team's reliability "not good enough."

The Russell puzzle

Beyond reliability, the more fundamental issue for Mercedes is the performance gap between its two drivers. Russell's driving style — arriving deep into corners before turning hard and smoothly to keep lines straight — excelled with the old cars but struggles with the new machines that slide more with less downforce.

"Russell tends to cope with fractionally more pedal application at these split-second moments, which means his engine has to spend more energy in corners and less on straights, leading to inferior qualifying positions," explained The Athletic's analysis. "The Briton has then been trying to make up for this and other setbacks in races, contributing to things like his Spa Lap 1 crash."

Antonelli's more energetic style, by contrast, naturally catches the sudden slides that the new cars produce. The result is a 59-point gap between the teammates that shows no sign of closing.

"I usually don't feel like I need a break. This year, I definitely feel like I need one," Russell said after Hungary — a measure of how draining the first half has been for the man who entered the season as the preseason title favourite.

With 12 races remaining and Ferrari just 72 points behind in the constructors' championship, Mercedes cannot afford many more mistakes. The second half of 2026 promises to be a brutal run, ending with three consecutive tripleheaders — and potentially a season finale at Imola that could see Antonelli crowned on home soil.