Mercedes have made improving their starts a top priority after both their drivers lost at least one position on the first lap of every race so far.
The team locked out the front row of the grid for all four races this year, including the sprint race in China. But George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli have failed to hold on to that advantage, losing a total of 21 positions.
“We know it’s probably one of the – if not, the – weakest performance characteristics of our car at the moment,” Mercedes’ deputy technical director Simone Resta acknowledged in a video released by the team. “We are working with a very high priority on this topic to try to improve it for the next races.”
The cars’ performance at the start of races is closely tied to the characteristics of its power unit. Ferrari have become renowned for making strong starts.
However McLaren, which also uses Mercedes power units, have tended to get off the line better than the works team, a point Resta acknowledged.
“We know, for example, looking at the McLaren start in Suzuka, that our power unit can start well,” he said. “We’ll try our best to improve our performance in this area for Miami, and try to make sure that we can defend in the best way any position that we’ll be able to gain in qualifying.”
Championship leader Antonelli’s starts have been consistently weaker than those of his team mate. On Sunday he lost places to Russell as well as both McLaren and Ferrari drivers.
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Antonelli also identified standing starts as a key weakness of the W17.
“Our car is very good [but] for sure with the starts [we could improve],” he said after Sunday’s race. “But I think today was completely my fault.
“Together, me and George, we’ve been struggling a bit more than what we would have anticipated since the start of the season. Today the McLarens got a really good start, so they’re clearly doing something better, for sure also on driver input. In this case Oscar [Piastri] did much better than me because – I cannot say, but I ‘effed’ it up pretty badly. But I just need to keep working on that area.”
Mercedes drivers’ starts this season
George Russell
| Event | Start | End of lap one | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| China – sprint race | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| China – grand prix | 2 | 4 | -2 |
| Japan | 2 | 4 | -2 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
| Event | Start | End of lap one | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2 | 7 | -5 |
| China – sprint race | 2 | 6 | -4 |
| China – grand prix | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Japan | 1 | 6 | -5 |
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2026 Japanese Grand Prix
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Published by
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine