Mercedes sealed their ninth constructors’ title at Interlagos on Sunday, with George Russell fourth and Kimi Antonelli fifth enough to put the Brackley squad mathematically out of reach of Ferrari with three races left. The team principal, Toto Wolff, was visibly reluctant to join the parc fermé celebrations, telling cameras he was already picking apart the race.
“I’m just thinking, ‘what went wrong in this race? Why have we underperformed? And what can we do for Las Vegas and next year?’”
Lando Norris won the Brazilian Grand Prix for McLaren as rain scrambled the final laps, with Antonelli and Russell squeezed off the podium. Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren have all been within striking distance of Mercedes week to week, and that bunched top of the grid is shaping Wolff’s view that the 2026 run is not the start of a new Mercedes era.
‘Three or four teams’ in the mix for 2027
Mercedes won eight constructors’ titles in a row from 2014 to 2021. Wolff is not expecting anyone to repeat that this time around.
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“There’s three or four teams that will be competing for a championship next year and it could go either way,” Wolff told reporters at Interlagos.
Mercedes closed Brazil on 652 points, 142 clear of Ferrari, 237 ahead of Red Bull and 254 up on McLaren, according to the post-race standings. The 2027 cycle brings a new power unit and chassis architecture, the kind of reset that has levelled the F1 grid before.
Five years out, and back on top
The title is Mercedes’ first since 2021, ending a drought that ran through the ground-effect era. The constructors’ crown lands a week after Antonelli, at 20, became the youngest world champion in F1 history with a podium finish at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
“We’ve taken a few years to be back on the top spot,” Wolff said after the race.
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“Not many teams have been able to come back from such a situation.”
The ninth constructors’ championship also pulls Mercedes level with Williams on the all-time list, a milestone Wolff said he never thought was reachable.
Mercedes’ next outing is the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, 21 November. Three rounds remain on the 2026 calendar: Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
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