Wolff confirms: 'We bring our first update package of the year to Montréal'

Mercedes heads into the fifth round of the season in Montreal with mixed emotions inside the team. On one side of the garage is a highly confident Kimi Antonelli, who arrives in Canada on the back of three consecutive victories - including his latest triumph in Miami - and with an increasingly solid lead at the top of the championship standings.

On the other side stands George Russell, whose momentum has gone in the opposite direction after winning the season opener in Australia. The Briton has struggled to maintain that form in recent races and has failed to even reach the podium in the last two Grands Prix.

Speaking ahead of the weekend, the Austrian stressed that Mercedes will introduce its first upgrade package of the season in Montreal, while also warning that the true value of the updates will only become clear once the car hits the track. Wolff underlined how early the championship still is despite the calendar already approaching the end of May, insisting there is still a very long road ahead in the 2026 campaign.

The Mercedes team principal also called for calm inside the team regardless of the results in Canada, explaining that neither success nor difficult weekends should drastically change the approach taken by the drivers and the wider team throughout the remainder of the season: "There is a long year ahead and, whilst this is an important weekend, it will not decide any outcomes. We will stay balanced, keep learning, and execute each weekend as well as we can. We won't get too high when we succeed or too low in the difficult moments; that is as true for our drivers as it is for the rest of the team."

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Wolff admitted he was not surprised to see the competitive order shift significantly during the early stages of F1’s new regulation era, pointing out how rapidly teams are still finding performance through development. The Mercedes boss highlighted McLaren’s major gains after introducing a substantial upgrade package, while also admitting Red Bull’s recent progress came as a particularly big surprise after the Milton Keynes-based squad dramatically reduced the gap to the front.

Wolff noted that Verstappen’s resurgence has shown just how quickly the balance of power can change from one race to another under the current regulations. According to the Austrian, fluctuating performance levels between teams are likely to remain a recurring theme throughout the 2026 season.