Toto Wolff reveals Mercedes change of plan to help Kimi Antonelli or George Russell win F1 title

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed a change of team strategy that will help Kimi Antonelli or George Russell win their first Drivers' Championship in the second half of the 2026 F1 season.

Antonelli currently leads the way at the top of the standings with 219 points, 50 ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.

The 18-year-old has won six of the 11 Grands Prix held thus far this season, including five consecutive races between China and Monaco.

A mechanical issue in Spain that caused him to retire from third place, and a wheel shield failure at Silverstone that dropped him out of the points, has prevented his lead from being even greater.

But Russell, who has 160 points and sits third in the Drivers' Championship standings, has had arguably more than his fair share of bad luck.

He retired from the lead in Canada due to a battery issue, while a engine rev problem dropped him to 21st by turn one in Hungary. Russell would recover to finish seventh.

Mercedes arrived at the season opener in Australia with a dominant package, helped significantly by the performance of their power unit.

It took until the seventh race of the season in Monaco for another team and driver - Ferrari and Hamilton - to win a Grand Prix, and Charles Leclerc and McLaren's Lando Norris have each stood on the top step of the podium since.

The gap to Mercedes, therefore, has been shortened by their rivals - but that appears to have been intentional by the Silver Arrows.

Wolff says that, due to the amount of upgrades each team is bringing to races this season due to the new regulation changes, Mercedes have purposely held back a significant number of their upgrades for the second half of the year.

He admits that Mercedes are having to be 'really strategic' about exactly when they put upgrades on the two cars.

"Rather than just throwing it in at every Grand Prix, like in the past, you cannot do this," he said. "So you will have to eventually put an upgrade in, and probably you leapfrog a little with the others, and then it flattens out and the other ones are coming stronger.

"So we're bringing upgrades. We're closely monitoring how much we can bring, and at the moment, cost cap wise, we're in a good spot. We have tried to have it a little bit more in the second half of the season and let's see if there's enough."

Mercedes team orders stance clarified

With two drivers going for the Drivers' Championship once Formula 1 returns from its summer break, Mercedes have had to put rules in place when it comes to team orders.

Deputy team principal Bradley Lord clarified to reporters earlier this week that the Silver Arrows will operate a team orders policy if a Mercedes driver is in position to win a race - but suggested they still have to operate caution even if they are further down the field.

READ MORE: George Russell comments on Mercedes team orders speak volumes as Toto Wolff makes key decision

"The simple principle is, if a Mercedes can win a race, a Mercedes must win the race, and that's what comes first," he said.

"The team comes first, and the Constructors' Championship is the team's primary focus and primary objective.

"We want to win both championships, absolutely, and we'll give ourselves the best chance of doing that by getting two cars to the finish as often as possible in the highest possible positions that we can, which is what we've failed to do at every single race so far this year."