Toto Wolff makes his feelings clear on Mercedes and McLaren upgrade stand-off

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has made his feelings clear on a stand-off over upgrades between his team and McLaren.

Mercedes currently lead the Constructors' Championship after 11 out of 23 Grands Prix in 2026, with Kimi Antonelli leading the Drivers' Championship by 50 points.

His Silver Arrows team-mate George Russell is in third place on 160 points, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton nine points ahead of him in second.

Mercedes started the season in dominant fashion, with Antonelli and Russell sharing victories across the first seven Grands Prix, but rivals have since closed the gap.

The Ferrari duo of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have each won one race, while McLaren's Lando Norris took the chequered flag at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Speaking earlier this week, Wolff stated that Mercedes were plotting a 'strategic' approach to upgrades, explaining that they had purposely planned to release more updates during the second half of the season.

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

McLaren, meanwhile, brought significant upgrade packages to Hungary and credited those updates for having a significant impact on their performance.

They were on course for a 1-2 finish before Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri retired due to a gearbox issue.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that their increase in pace, 'from a competitiveness point of view, can be entirely ascribed to the upgrades that we took here'.

But Formula 1 veteran Simone Resta, who is currently Mercedes' deputy technical director, believes that the upgrade 'must have contributed to their performance' but put it down to other factors as well.

"If you look at the gap between their two cars, there was clearly more to it than the upgrade alone ... we've also seen strong performances from Lando several times this season," he told Nu Silver Arrows.

"Budapest may simply have been one of those weekends where he found himself in a particularly good place with the car, the setup and tyre management."

Wolff gives verdict on McLaren upgrade power

In comparison to McLaren, Mercedes were never in contention for the race win, and third-placed Antonelli would likely have finished off the podium behind Hamilton if not for a late-race virtual safety car (VSC) that resulted in Ferrari pitting the seven-time world champion.

Russell, meanwhile, dropped to 21st at turn one after an engine revs issue at the start, before recovering to finish seventh.

Silver Arrows team principal Wolff has told reporters (via PlanetF1) that caution should be issued over exactly how much of a step forward McLaren have taken compared to their nearest rivals.

"Definitely one of the good tracks for them, and not very good for us," Wolff said of the Budapest International Circuit.

"So we need to be careful not to swing from everyone is suddenly competitive, to a team is suddenly not competitive.

"I think they've definitely done a step. They are in the fight. We haven't brought an upgrade for some time, and you can see that this is going to be a development fight also going forward."