Mercedes Explain Why Both Cars Felt Broken in Brazil

Mercedes now know what happened to their cars in Brazil, and the answer is not a broken part. It was the tires, which simply did not get warm enough. During the race, both drivers said on the radio more than once that something was wrong with the car. Right after the race, Toto Wolff said something odd was definitely going on and that both drivers had a very tricky car at times, but on Sunday evening he could not really say why.

The explanation came on Wednesday, November 11, when deputy team principal Bradley Lord went through the race in the team’s debrief video, as PlanetF1 reported. For him, it was “a really topsy-turvy race.” At some points Mercedes had the fastest car on track, first with Antonelli on intermediates and later with Russell on soft tires. But in the soft-tire stint and the final stint on intermediates, the car was very oversteery and the tire temperatures were very low.

Lord said the car was “just below the tyre temperature window.” It would get into the window for a while and then, because the track was still damp, fall out of it again. Both drivers thought something on their cars was broken, and, interestingly, Lord said other drivers in the field had the same feeling about their own cars.

Let’s go back to the race itself for a moment. Antonelli started second and led after the start, while Russell started seventh. The track was still wet in places, and the pit exit was one of them. On lap 14, Russell came in for slicks, spun right at the pit exit and touched the wall. The team had warned him on the radio to be careful at the exit, but that message was not shown on TV. Russell said later that he was not really sure what had happened, but he admitted that he saw an opportunity, took quite a big risk and paid the price.

Three laps later, Antonelli spun too. He was leading when he went around at Turn 1 and flat-spotted all four tires, which cost him the lead and limited his pace for a long time. Until then, on intermediates, he had the fastest car, and the win was a real possibility. Afterwards, he told his engineer that the car pulled to one side under acceleration and was poor in left-hand corners.

When the rain returned near the end, Mercedes had another chance at the podium. But on intermediates, neither driver could catch Isack Hadjar, who finished third for Red Bull in his first season with the team. Russell was fourth, 33.991 seconds behind winner Lando Norris of McLaren, with Antonelli fifth. Those 22 points were enough for Mercedes’ ninth constructors’ title and the first since 2021, even though it was the first race of 2026 without a Mercedes driver on the podium.

When The Race asked Russell what the problem was, he said the team did not know. But he also said he felt much more like himself that weekend, and the numbers back him up: lap for lap he was very close to Antonelli, 52 to 48 percent in the Italian’s favor, so the weekend was not all bad for him.

Many drivers have said this season’s rain tires are hard to warm up. In Brazil the track was wet at the start and the rain came back at the end, so the teams needed these tires for a big part of the race. Pirelli has already confirmed new wet and intermediate tires for 2027.

Mercedes already have both titles, since Antonelli clinched the drivers’ championship in Mexico, but three races are still left: Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Next is Las Vegas on Saturday, November 21, where the race runs at night in cold air, so Mercedes want to understand this tire temperature problem before they get there. Qatar and Abu Dhabi will be warmer, so the risk there is probably lower, but Las Vegas comes first.