Mercedes clinch 2026 Constructors’ Championship at São Paulo Grand Prix
Mercedes have clinched the 2026 Formula One constructors’ championship at the São Paulo Grand Prix, completing a championship double just a week after Kimi Antonelli secured the drivers’ title in Mexico City.
George Russell finished fourth and Antonelli fifth at Interlagos, enough to take the team’s lead over Ferrari to 140 points with only 129 left to win across the final three rounds. Mercedes arrived in Brazil needing to outscore Ferrari by just three points and did so by 14, taking 22 to its rival’s eight.
Lando Norris won the race from the front of the grid, with Max Verstappen second after climbing 19 places and Isack Hadjar third. Both Mercedes cars finished inside the top five from very different starting positions.
Russell began seventh after a five-place grid penalty for a new engine, a drop Mercedes chose to take at Interlagos because overtaking is easier there than at the venues still to come. He gained three places and finished 34 seconds behind Norris. Antonelli started second but slipped to fifth, two seconds behind his teammate, awaiting a penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane.
Ferrari’s challenge ended with Charles Leclerc seventh, up from 14th on the grid, and Lewis Hamilton ninth, a lap down. That left Ferrari on 512 points to Mercedes’ 652.
The title is Mercedes’ ninth and its first since 2021, the last of eight in a row that began in 2014. "First of all, everybody at Interlagos and Sao Paulo, it has been a real blast - thank you for having us. It is amazing, it was a very strong beginning of the season and that got us across the line... Overall I'm so proud of the organisation, we have taken a few years to get back to the top spot. Not many teams can come back.
"Frank [Williams] is such an unbelievable icon of the sport, to be tied on Constructors' Championships, I never thought it would be possible. It is amazing, I cannot believe it."
The season began with doubts over reliability in pre-season testing, but the W17 settled them quickly. Russell won the opener in Australia with Antonelli second, and Antonelli then took five victories in a row, in China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco.
Russell added wins in Austria and Azerbaijan, the latter a grand slam. Ferrari ended Antonelli’s run in Barcelona and Norris beat the Mercedes drivers in Budapest, but Antonelli won again at Spa, at his home race in Monza from the back of the grid and at the United States Grand Prix.
Third place in Mexico City then made him F1’s youngest world champion at 20 years and 68 days. Mercedes have now won 12 of the 20 Grands Prix so far.
Power unit reliability has been the team’s one real weakness. A failure for Russell forced a heavy grid penalty in Singapore, and Antonelli finished third in Mexico City only because his engine lasted a handful of laps longer than an oil leak from a cracked sump allowed.
A year that began with questions over whether the new regulations would reward Mercedes’ preparation now has its answer, settled with three races to spare.
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