News Summary
- Mercedes clinched its ninth F1 constructors’ title with 22 points at the São Paulo Grand Prix.
- Toto Wolff credited the team’s early run of wins as Ferrari and Red Bull gained ground later in the season.
- Mercedes drew level with Williams on nine constructors’ championships and completed its first title double since 2020.
Toto Wolff pointed to the opening months of 2026 after Mercedes ended its five-year wait for a Formula 1 constructors’ championship. George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished fourth and fifth in São Paulo, but the team had built the bulk of its advantage before its rivals were able to win regularly.
“It was a very strong beginning of the season and that kind of got us over the line,” Wolff said after the race. Russell won the opener in Australia. Antonelli then won in China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco, giving Mercedes six wins from the first six Grands Prix.
Ferrari closed in before Mercedes finished the job
Ferrari outscored Mercedes across the four rounds immediately before São Paulo. Red Bull won three of those races with Max Verstappen. By Interlagos, however, Mercedes needed to gain only three points on Ferrari. It gained 14. Russell and Antonelli scored 22 between them, while seventh for Charles Leclerc and ninth for Lewis Hamilton gave Ferrari eight. Mercedes reached 652 points to Ferrari’s 512.
It was the team’s first constructors’ crown since the end of its eight-title streak in 2021 and its first double since 2020. Antonelli had secured the drivers’ championship in Mexico City one week earlier. With nine constructors’ titles, Mercedes is now level with Williams, behind Ferrari’s 16 and McLaren’s 10.
GRANDE PRÊMIO is following every session of the São Paulo Grand Prix in Formula 1 live from Interlagos.
