Mercedes admit penalties for Antonelli and Russell 'almost inevitable' amid reliability woes

While both Antonelli and Russell are fighting for the Drivers' title - Antonelli leads the standings on 219 points, 59 points ahead of his teammate in P3 - the Silver Arrows duo have each suffered power unit-related DNFs and other reliability woes in recent races.

Russell failed to finish at Montreal after a battery failure, before encountering a series of deployment issues at energy-starved circuits Silverstone and Spa. At the Hungarian GP, Russell then had to take the last of his permitted engine changes in 2026 after suffering a water leak during Q3 Qualifying.

Championship leader Antonelli, has perhaps been more fortunate, but still suffered another battery-related DNF at Barcelona, as well as a failure with his wheel shield on the way to a P15 finish at Silverstone.

Deputy team principal Lord believes "100 or so" points have been left on the table thanks to Mercedes' reliability problems, and while team boss Toto Wolff had "very much" hoped the Silver Arrows would not have to take any engine penalties after the Hungarian GP, Lord has since said the maths suggest it is likely.

Speaking to GPblog and other select media, Lord said: "Looking at how many [components] we've used in the first half of the season, it's almost inevitable that at some point there will be penalties to take.

With Lewis Hamilton sandwiched between Antonelli and Russell in the Drivers' standings - 50 points behind the Italian - Lord was then asked whether he foresees a penalty to both of the Mercedes drivers. He replied: "We've got half a season to do.

Quizzed on whether there was any consistency to the reliability issues Mercedes have faced, Wolff's right hand man pointed to the Electrical Recovery System (ERS) as the cause of Antonelli and Russell's respective DNFs in Montreal and Barcelona - mostly resolved after an Austrian GP update package, but among"a number of different elements for us to get on top of."

Lord said: "So, we had the some challenges with the ERS… That was closely related issues that were responsible for the failures in Canada and in Barcelona that we believe are for the most part resolved with the reliability update we brought to Austria.