Mercedes reveal their F1 strategy to combat spectacular Ferrari upgrades

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has outlined the team's upgrade strategy to stave off the title challenge of the resurgent Ferrari duo.

Mercedes' teenage phenom Kimi Antonelli leads the Formula 1 drivers' championship standings thanks to five consecutive Grand Prix wins, but the Italian has finished outside the points twice in the last three races.

The 19-year-old's dip has coincided with Ferrari on the charge, boosted by significant upgrade packages that have delivered a first GP win as a Ferrari driver for Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona, and a Charles Leclerc win at the British GP two rounds later.

Consequently, Antonelli's previously enormous advantage at the top of the standings has been cut. Mercedes teammate George Russell is still in second, but Hamilton is now just 32 points off the lead, prompting suggestions that Ferrari race orders should prioritise the seven-time world champion in order to maximise the team's chances of catching the Mercedes pair.

But while Ferrari and Red Bull have been able to push the boat out with their upgrade packages and trim Mercedes' straight-line speed advantage, the Brackley outfit aren't minded to let their drivers be overtaken easily.

The team's engineering director has explained how Mercedes are setting out their stall to stay at the top but doing so in a different way.

On the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show via Crash, Shovlin said: "We're bringing performance to it. We haven't done a massive kit like some of our competitors. But every week, we're trying to bring performance to just keep ourselves ahead at the moment.

"We're lucky that we've got a car that works across a whole range of tracks. Well, probably not lucky. I think we've done a good job at engineering a car that works across a full range of tracks.

"A lot of prep goes into the circuits to make sure that we land the car in the right place and we can perform well. We had a couple of circuits recently, like Monaco and Austria, that have been tough places for us over the last few years. It was great that we could turn it around there.

"But Spa is a really weird track, difficult from an energy point of view. So there's a lot of work we've got to do to make sure we can hit the ground running."

Antonelli looks to get title quest back on track in Belgium

After two blanks either side of a third-placed finish in Austria, championship leader Antonelli and teammate Russell have a chance to pull away from Hamilton and Leclerc again when the F1 family rolls into Belgium next weekend.

Antonelli started the season second in a Mercedes one-two in Australia and won the next five races between China in March and Monaco in June.

Russell has finished in the top two in the three subsequent races, but Antonelli has endured a challenging summer after a blistering start to the 2026 season.

The young Italian logged the fastest lap at Spa in 2025, but the Grand Prix was won by McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead of teammate Lando Norris in second and Leclerc in third.