Wolff Admits Mercedes Throwing Away Points as they Push to Unlock Performance

Toto Wolff admits that Mercedes F1 has left points on the table snapped up by its rivals to make it a much closer battle than they would have wished.

Despite the power advantage on the power unit side in combination with the chassis, Mercedes F1 has left and lost a lot of points due to reliability issues in the first half of 2026 season. They have had retirements from key positions, which have hurt them on the points side.

In the drivers’ F1 standings, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (219) leads by 50 points over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton (169), with the other Mercedes of George Russell (160) in third. In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes (379) leads by 72 points over Ferrari (307).

Considering the advantage they started the F1 2026 season with, the points gap is still less, especially with the reliability issues, which Ferrari hasn’t faced as much. Wolff admits the loss of points to rivals. He knows that the loss will haunt them, as the championship will be decided largely via rate of development and execution.

Mercedes F1 has been out of order in comparison to its rivals in terms of development packages, but they have a plan in place which they will execute soon. “We have left points on the table, our rivals have reduced the performance gap, and we know the second half of the year will demand more from us than the first,” said Wolff in pre-race preview.

“The championships will be decided by execution and the rate of development we can bring to the car across the next 12 races. Whilst we are slightly out of step with upgrades compared to our rivals, we have more performance to unlock and a clear development plan to do so.

 “Zandvoort has been a unique challenge since its return. It is a difficult track to master, the fans create an incredible atmosphere, and it has become a race that the teams and drivers look forward to. We have come close but never won there in the modern era. This is our final opportunity to change that, and that’s a challenge we would like to meet.”