Toto Wolff gives damning Ferrari verdict after 'surprise' upgrade packages threaten Antonelli's championship

As Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton prepares to take another chunk out of the championship lead of Kimi Antonelli at his home race at Silverstone, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claims that their meteoric rise will have come at a high cost.

Having started the Formula 1 season in spectacular fashion, Mercedes returned to winning form in Austria, as both Antonelli and Russell appeared on the podium alongside Max Verstappen.

It was a race to forget for Ferrari, which started the day in a strong position but executed a poor team strategy by taking a gamble on a virtual safety car pit stop for Lewis Hamilton, which didn't work at all.

But the Rosso red flying arrows are contenders again, after deploying another huge chassis upgrade to the SF-26 car. Four upgrades were made to the car during practice rounds for Austria, which added to the eight items modified in the aerodynamic department before the Barcelona Grand Prix, and the three circuit upgrades that they made at Monaco.

The multiple new upgrade packages caught the attention of the FIA too, as they demanded an 'extensive investigation' of Hamilton's car, adding jitters to the camp before Austria.

Ferrari has been one of the most experimental teams already in this Formula 1 season, and will be hoping that it will come in clutch for Silverstone.

But having only had eight out of 22 races, Toto Wolff has given a damning indictment of how this has affected their budget.

Toto Wolff claims Ferrari should 'run out of money' soon

With a focus on slowing Ferrari down at Silverstone, with Russell also looking to use the home buff like Hamilton, Mercedes are surprised that the Italian team is bringing more upgrades.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Wolff claimed that they are making tiny tweaks to their own cars, but Ferrari's overhauls come as an expensive surprise.

"On the chassis, we're always bringing small enhancements here and there, because we're a little bit surprised that Ferrari can throw these huge updates at the car in the way they do," he said.

"In my opinion, they need to be running out of money soon - cost cap money - because we can't do that. We're simply lacking the buffer in the cost cap to be able to bring so many parts in the way they do.

"Hopefully that's going to change towards the end of the season when they won't be able to bring any parts anymore. At least the logic would say that, and we're going to come with more."

Each Formula 1 team has been given a cost cap of up to $215m for upgrades in the 2026 season, an increase on last season due to the change of regulations in the new chassis era that replaced the DRS systems.

"The only ones who are not slowing down are Ferrari," he continued

"Between McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves, you can see we had one big one [upgrade] that we introduced in Montreal.

"We have small parts that come in between. I think the same for Red Bull and McLaren. It's just Ferrari seems to be limitless in that way, and then on top, they were expecting ADUO and came with a new engine already, so they must have started development six months ago.

"I hope its the same rules for everyone."